Changes to Rules of Civil Procedure on Confirming Motions and Applications

A new regulation to amend the Rules of Civil Procedure comes into force on April 23, 2022.

The main change is that motion and application confirmation forms will have to be submitted by moving parties and applicants five days prior to the hearing date, instead of three days.

If responding parties wish to submit confirmation forms, they will have to do so four days prior to the hearing date, instead of two days.

In addition, in motions and applications involving the use of CaseLines, the deadline to upload documents to CaseLines will be 2:00 p.m. three days before the hearing date, unless the court orders otherwise. In all other matters where CaseLines is used, the deadline to upload documents to CaseLines remains five days before the date of the hearing or conference, unless the court orders otherwise.

There will also be a revised confirmation of motion form and a revised confirmation of application form, which specify the duty to update the court and other parties if there are subsequent changes to the information on the forms.

Please keep in mind that the new five day deadline is subject to any local practice directions. For example, the Toronto Region has a special protocol for confirming long motions and applications. Such motions and applications must be confirmed one month and one week prior to the hearing date.