Litigation Lawyer for Sarnia Disputes

Most claims proceed in the Superior Court of Justice sitting for your region, or at the Landlord and Tenant Board for residential tenancies. We confirm the right forum at the consultation.

No. Pleadings, discoveries and most attendances run electronically or by video. You visit when a signature must be witnessed or when strategy is easier face to face.

First 15 minutes free, then $199 per half-hour. If we take the file, we quote the next step — demand letter, claim, or defence — before you decide.

Generally two years from when you discovered the claim — the day you first knew or reasonably should have known that you suffered a loss caused by someone else. There is also a fifteen-year ultimate deadline from the act itself. Some claims run on different clocks: land claims under the Real Property Limitations Act, construction liens on far shorter deadlines, and certain claims against public bodies with short notice requirements. If you are near any deadline, that is the reason to call today rather than next month.

No. This catches people constantly. Months of emails, meetings and reasonable-sounding promises do not extend the two-year period unless the parties sign a written agreement suspending it. If a deadline is approaching while you are still negotiating, the claim can be issued to preserve rights and negotiations can continue afterwards.

$35,000, excluding interest and costs. Small Claims Court is a branch of the Superior Court of Justice, procedure is simplified, and hearings are commonly held by video. For many disputes it is the proportionate forum, and abandoning part of a slightly larger claim to stay within the limit is sometimes the commercially sensible choice.

Claims up to $35,000 go to the Small Claims Court, and larger claims to the Superior Court of Justice sitting for the region — with Simplified Procedure under Rule 76 for most claims up to $200,000. Residential tenancy disputes go to the Landlord and Tenant Board instead. We confirm the correct forum at the consultation, because filing in the wrong place wastes both time and the filing fee.

Usually a meaningful portion, not all of it. Ontario follows a loser-pays principle and costs are most often awarded on a partial indemnity basis. Substantial indemnity costs are reserved for particular circumstances, including some cases where a party refused a reasonable written offer to settle. The same rule means you should understand your exposure if the claim fails before you start.

A Small Claims matter can be measured in months. A Superior Court action that proceeds through pleadings, documentary and oral discovery, mediation and a pre-trial to a trial date is realistically measured in years, depending on the region's trial capacity. Most cases settle before trial, and the useful question is usually which step is likely to produce a resolution rather than how long a trial is away.

It is a formal letter from counsel setting out the claim, the legal basis and what you require, with a deadline. It costs a small fraction of issuing a claim and resolves a meaningful number of disputes outright, because it is often the first moment the other side takes the matter seriously. It also builds a record that helps on costs later if litigation follows.

Sometimes. Ontario courts can grant injunctions and urgent relief where damages would not be an adequate remedy and the harm is serious and imminent — for example to preserve property, stop a sale, or restrain the dissipation of assets. The test is demanding and the evidence has to be assembled quickly. If something irreversible is about to happen, that is a same-day conversation.

Serve the correct notice — an N4 for arrears — with accurate dates and amounts, then apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board on an L1 if the arrears are not paid within the notice period. Errors on the notice are the leading cause of dismissal, which sends you back to the start. Only the Board can order an eviction: changing locks or removing belongings yourself is unlawful and creates liability.

Put the request in writing and keep a record, then apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board on a maintenance application. The Board can order the work done, abate rent, and in some cases order compensation. Withholding rent is not a safe remedy and can itself lead to an eviction application, so get advice before taking that step.

Often yes. Oral contracts are generally enforceable in Ontario, though a few categories require writing, and agreements dealing with an interest in land are the notable example. The practical problem is proof: what you can establish through emails, texts, invoices, payments and conduct usually determines the outcome. Bring everything, including the messages you think are unhelpful.

Discovery is the stage where each side produces relevant documents and answers questions under oath. It is broad — relevant documents must be produced even when they hurt your case — but it is not unlimited, and material is subject to the deemed undertaking restricting its use to the proceeding. Privileged communications with your lawyer are protected. We prepare clients properly for discovery, because it is frequently where cases are effectively decided.

In Toronto, Ottawa and Essex County, mandatory mediation applies to most civil actions under Rule 24.1. Elsewhere it is voluntary but very commonly used, and courts expect parties to have made genuine settlement efforts. Mediation is confidential and without prejudice, and it resolves a substantial share of cases at a fraction of the cost of trial.

The first 15 minutes are free, then $199 per half-hour. We quote the next discrete step — a demand letter, a statement of claim, a defence, a motion — so you can decide with a real number in front of you rather than an open-ended commitment. We also give you our honest assessment of the range of outcomes and the costs exposure if the claim does not succeed.