“Typically, a review under Rule 2.1 is commenced by a party asking the registrar to put a pleading before a judge under Rule 2.1.01 (6) or 2.1.02. A judge reviews the pleading to determine if there is a prima facie case that a proceeding or a motion in a proceeding may be frivolous, vexatious, or an abuse of process and that there may be reason to resort to the summary, written process under Rule 2.1 rather than a regular motion process. See Scaduto v The Law Society of Upper Canada, 2015 ONCA 733 (CanLII). If the judge is satisfied that Rule 2.1 may apply, then she or he directs the registrar to send notice to the plaintiffs inviting submissions as to why the claim or motion should not be dismissed.
Under Rules 2.1.01 (1) and 2.1.02 (1) the court may commence a review of a claim or a motion in a claim on its own initiative. To avoid multiple reviews of the same pleading, the court should not limit its initial review just to the claims against the party or parties who initiated the process. That is, although a request for a review may be initiated by a single party under Rules 2.1.01 (6) or 2.1.02 (2), if, on the initial review, the court determines that the claim may be frivolous, vexatious, or an abuse of process in whole or in relation to more parties than just those who made the request, the court ought to broaden the inquiry at its own initiative. If it does so, the court should make careful note of the full breadth of review being undertaken in its call for submissions from the plaintiffs.
In my view, while the invitation to commence the Rule 2.1 review process may be made by or on behalf of a limited number of parties, the court ought to consider expanding the scope of the review under Rules 2.1.01 and 2.1.02 to avoid multiplicity and serial requests as has occurred in this case.”
P.Y. v. The Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, 2020 ONSC 6660 (CanLII) at 8-10