On March 23, 2022, a regulation was filed to amend the court rules and forms for civil proceedings: O. Reg. 224/22, amending the Rules of Civil Procedure. The regulation is posted on e-Laws at https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r22224.
The regulation addresses the rules regarding the deadlines for parties to submit their confirmation of motion and confirmation of application forms (Forms 37B and 38B), as well as the deadline to upload materials to CaseLines.
The regulation, which amends three rules and revises two forms, will come into force on April 23, 2022.
The rule amendments:
- require a moving party to confirm the motion 5 days before the hearing instead of 3, and permit the responding party to confirm the motion (if the moving party has not done so) 4 days before the motion instead of 2 (rule 37.10.1);
- require an applicant to confirm the application 5 days before the hearing instead of 3 (rule 38.09.1);
- separate the CaseLines deadline for motions and applications from the confirmation form deadlines (rule 4.05.3);
- remove references to e-mail submission of confirmation forms being possible only if available in the court office, since e-mail is available in every civil court office (rules 37.10.1 and 38.09.1); and
- prescribe revised versions of the Form 37B Confirmation of Motion and Form 38B Confirmation of Application, to
- emphasize the duty to update the court if circumstances change after confirmation,
- add reference to the abandonment procedure, and
- require a list of materials for applications (as is already required for motions).
The revised Forms 37B and 38B are available on the Ontario Court Forms website.
A summary of the regulation is available on Ontario’s Regulatory Registry at: 22-MAG004