www.lexpert.ca 11
"THE TRIAL DATES FOR THE LITIGATION
WERE POSTPONED, AND I THINK THAT
PUSHED THE PARTIES TO SETTLE
VERSUS WAITING FOR COURTS TO
REOPEN AND HAVE THEIR
CASES HEARD."
Allison Kuntz
STIKEMAN ELLIOTT LLP
COVID and the courts
"e court system has dealt with the
pandemic very well in general," says
Christopher Richter, a corporate-commer-
cial litigator at Torys LLP in Montreal.
"Urgent matters have been
dealt with."
Although there has
been a shi towards
virtual hearings — and
dealing with matters by
email and other electronic
means has generally gone
well, he says — the courts'
"backlog is growing."
Richter blames a judi-
cial system that has been
"underfunded for many
years, and we're starting to see the limits of
what they're able to do in today's emergency
circumstances." Ordinary commercial cases
that are not urgent are beginning to take
longer and longer.
"When people start to see that a court
case can take many months or years, they do
start to consider arbitration more closely."
At the outset of COVID, litigator Allison
Kuntz had a matter set for trial and two
cases set for arbitration. "e trial dates
for the litigation were postponed, and I
think that pushed the parties to settle versus
waiting for courts to reopen and have their
cases heard — and that certainly wasn't a
bad thing," says the Calgary-based partner
in Stikeman Elliott LLP.
"I suspect a lot of parties found them-
selves in that situation, meaning they used
the pause of the pandemic to re-examine
their litigation and reach resolution on their
own terms, which is really, in fact, the most
desirable way to resolve a dispute."
Toronto | 1-866-685-3311 | www.mcleishorlando.com
CONGR ATULATIONS
Congratulations to the McLeish Orlando Lawyers selected for inclusion in
The Best Lawyers in Canada™ 2022 for their expertise in Personal Injury Litigation
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Joseph A. Cescon, Lindsay Charles, John McLeish, Dale Orlando, Patrick Brown, Salvatore Shaw
