Before the pandemic, the small claims courts in Ontario, Canada, provided an effective way to deal with wrongful-dismissal cases. Designed to process claims under $35,000, the small claims courts could get cases settled quickly and efficiently and allow employees who had been wrongfully dismissed to get access to the money they were owed.
"[The small claims court system] never used to be instantaneous, probably about a year process, if not more," said Jonathan Kleiman, a small claims court lawyer in Toronto. "Now you're probably looking at two to three years."
Pandemic Leads to a System Backlog
The massive backlog in the small claims courts in Ontario is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which paused activities in the courts for an extended period. "The trials stopped, the mediations stopped, the system basically shut down," said Howard Levitt, an attorney with Levitt Sheikh in Toronto. "All of a sudden, you have two more years of backlog added on to the existing backlog." This has left employees hoping to use the small claims courts waiting for longer and longer periods.
Frustrated clients are writing every six months, asking, "What the heck's going on?" Kleiman said. "And then I explain [the backlog]."
Some lawyers are taking their clients' cases to the superior court.
"It's now taking longer to get to small claims court in Ontario, in most cities anyway, than it is superior court, which is ridiculous," Levitt said.
The Flaws with Superior Court
Taking small claims to the...
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