Litigation Abuse in Ontario Family Cases

Recently I attended a family conference and I am shamelessly borrowing from some of the ideas expressed at that conference. So thanks to Professor Nicholas Bala, who made this outstanding presentation, and I wanted to share a summary with readers. So, all credit should go to him because this is a summary of what his presentation was.

Litigation abuse is defined as conduct that misuses the family court process to reasonably cause emotional or financial harm to the other party or to their children which is greater than would occur with the proper use of the family justice process. Professor Bala says that it is contact, characterised as unreachable, unfair, in bad faith, or an abuse of the litigation process.

Both men and women have been empirically found through research to have acted unreasonably. Women have been victims of litigation abuse in economic cases, while men have been victims in cases focused on parenting.

What are examples of litigation abuse? Bringing frivolous legal positions to extend bullying and abuse tactics; vexatious litigation; procedural stocking; and if I may add, document dumping by wealthy clients, who seek to overwhelm the other side with paperwork, making it challenging to respond.

Other examples include: failing to comply with disclosure requests; failing to pay required support; bringing unnecessary procedural applications; delaying proceedings or making unreasonable requests; bullying or intimidating communication; introducing sensitive or intimate evidence to humiliate the other party; prolonging and refusing to accept, or make reasonable settlement offers; delaying and not obeying court orders; repeatedly changing counsel; repeatedly seeking reviews of previous orders, without any material change having taken place; and constantly contacting different lawyers in the jurisdiction, forcing them to conflict themselves out of consideration by the other party.

What can be done to combat litigation abuse?

Lawyers need to be aware. They need to advise. At times if given the opportunity, they need to be proactive. Proactive means, filing cases in court. Unfortunately, it is not so simple and easy to combat litigation abuse, especially being the receiver. The reality is that litigation abuse can be combated by filing court cases which in turn makes the process much more expensive. I have no doubt that the receiving party by countering cases and filing cross motions will eventually get relief, but after having spent a lot of money in obtaining that relief.

At Shankar law, we are happy to provide you that honest and transparent advice at every step of the way to identify and let you know when litigation abuse is taking place and importantly, what we can do to help you combat it.

We are happy to help clients virtually anywhere in Ontario!

We now have four offices conveniently located to serve you better in Owen Sound, Port Elgin, Wiarton, and Kincardine. Serving the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay Shorelines from Goderich to Collingwood and the surrounding areas. We are here to help with all of your Family Law, Criminal Law, Real Estate Law and Will matters.