{"id":10421,"date":"2024-02-07T19:36:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T00:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/?p=10421"},"modified":"2024-02-07T19:36:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T00:36:10","slug":"failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/","title":{"rendered":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although litigants and the courts are typically very willing to give a Plaintiff many indulgences when it comes to serving their Statement of Claim, this recent decision is a poignant reminder not to take these graces for granted.\u00a0 Indeed, in this case the worst-case scenario unfolded for the Plaintiff and their lawyers: not only did the defendant refuse to grant an indulgence to allow the Plaintiff more time to serve their Statement of Claim, the court agreed that an extension of time could not be granted in this case because it would cause significant and uncompensable prejudice to the Defendant.\u00a0 Based on this ruling, the Plaintiff\u2019s claim was stopped dead in its tracks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This case involved some fairly specific facts, centered around a Defendant doctor in a medical malpractice case, who became very ill and incapacitated after the time the Statement of Claim should have been in his hands.\u00a0 By the time the Statement of Claim was served, the Defendant Doctor was in no position to communicate intelligibly, thereby depriving him of the ability to defend himself.\u00a0 By the time the motion was heard, the Defendant had died.\u00a0 To make matters worse for the Plaintiff, this was not a situation where the Defendant could not be found, or was evading service: the Plaintiff\u2019s law firm simply had their lines of communication crossed amongst the staff, such that the deadline to serve the Statement of Claim was missed. \u00a0By the time things were sorted out, the Statement of Claim was served ten (10) months past the six (6) month service compliance time under the rules.<\/p>\n

Also working against the Plaintiff was a Statement of Claim that was issued on the eve of the expiration of the limitation period so it wasn\u2019t open to the Plaintiff to simply issue a new Statement of Claim and proceed to serve the new claim.\u00a0 Indeed, if this was the case, then this motion may have been decided very differently, or perhaps not needed at all.<\/p>\n

When the Plaintiff\u2019s lawyer sought an extension of time to serve the Claim, which is often provided on consent, the Defendant’s Estate refused.\u00a0 This required the Plaintiff to seeks an order from the court granting an extension of time to serve the Statement of Claim (and otherwise validate the service of the Statement of Claim 10 months after it was supposed to be served), and the judge refused to grant the extension, or validate the late service, agreeing with the Defendant Estate that it would be too prejudicial to the Defendant\u2019s Estate to allow the Plaintiff to serve the Statement of Claim beyond the six (6) months required under the rules, at a time when the Defendant subsequently became mentally incapacitated.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take Away<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although this may be a rare and unlikely set of circumstances, the reality is that this scenario can play out at any time and with defendants of any age.\u00a0 A plaintiff cannot control what happens in a defendant\u2019s life, but what a plaintiff can do is serve their claims on time, and if that is done, it doesn\u2019t matter if the defendant became mentally incompetent, or died, during the time allotted for service under the rules.\u00a0 \u00a0The only certainty is that a Statement of Claim served on-time will fully protect a Plaintiff against what happened in this case.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate<\/em>, 2024 ONSC 709<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.canlii.org\/en\/on\/onsc\/doc\/2024\/2024onsc709\/2024onsc709.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although litigants and the courts are typically very willing to give a Plaintiff many indulgences when it comes to serving their Statement of Claim, this recent decision is a poignant reminder not to take these graces for granted.\u00a0 Indeed, in this case the worst-case scenario unfolded for the Plaintiff and their lawyers: not only did… Continue reading Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-court-practice","category-professional-negligence","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nFailing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"360Mediations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/COURT-DECISIONS-360MEDIATIONS-1x1-1.png?fit=406%2C322&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"322\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David M. Jose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David M. Jose\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David M. Jose\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c347754b73cc5b9c07764e2b4051a0ff\"},\"headline\":\"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\"},\"wordCount\":583,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Court Practice\",\"Professional Negligence\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\",\"name\":\"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"360Mediations\",\"description\":\"David M. Jose - Taking your dispute full circle to resolution....\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"360Mediations\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/360Mediations-Logo-Medium.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/360Mediations-Logo-Medium.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1\",\"width\":600,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"360Mediations\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c347754b73cc5b9c07764e2b4051a0ff\",\"name\":\"David M. Jose\",\"description\":\"Full time Mediator servicing the Province of Ontario.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/author\/david-m-jose\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations","description":"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations","og_description":"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709","og_url":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/","og_site_name":"360Mediations","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318","article_published_time":"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":406,"height":322,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/COURT-DECISIONS-360MEDIATIONS-1x1-1.png?fit=406%2C322&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"David M. Jose","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David M. Jose","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/"},"author":{"name":"David M. Jose","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c347754b73cc5b9c07764e2b4051a0ff"},"headline":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly","datePublished":"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/"},"wordCount":583,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Court Practice","Professional Negligence"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/","url":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/","name":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly - 360Mediations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-02-08T00:36:06+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-08T00:36:10+00:00","description":"A plaintiff can be prevented from advancing their case if they took too long to serve their claim, as happened in Tookenay v. O\u2019Mahony Estate, 2024 ONSC 709","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/failing-to-serve-your-claims-on-time-could-be-very-costly\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Failing to Serve Your Claims on Time Could be Very Costly"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/","name":"360Mediations","description":"David M. Jose - Taking your dispute full circle to resolution....","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#organization","name":"360Mediations","url":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/360Mediations-Logo-Medium.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/360mediations.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/360Mediations-Logo-Medium.png?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"360Mediations"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/360mediations.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c347754b73cc5b9c07764e2b4051a0ff","name":"David M. Jose","description":"Full time Mediator servicing the Province of Ontario.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/360Mediations-120028596572318"],"url":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/author\/david-m-jose\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10422,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421\/revisions\/10422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mail.360mediations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}