October 3, 2024 – Your Day In Court: You’re Entitled to It, But Then…

“Rule 2.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure empowers a court, on its own initiative, or on motion by any party to a proceeding, to stay or dismiss a proceeding if the proceeding appears on its face to be frivolous or vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court.

A proceeding includes an appeal. As this court noted in Simpson v. The Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, 2016 ONCA 806, 5 C.P.C. (8th) 280, at para. 43, “Rule 2.1 is meant to provide a streamlined procedure for disposing of proceedings and motions that on their face are frivolous, vexatious or otherwise an abuse of process.”

To permit the appellant to continue with her appeals would allow her to ignore the consequences of her breaches of numerous court orders, endlessly re-litigate issues, and continue to abuse the process of the court. It would also be grossly unfair to the respondent and their child, both of whom are entitled to finality. As this court stated in Simpson , at para. 41: “Everyone is entitled to their day in court but once they have had that day, they cannot be permitted to subject other parties to the cost of further proceedings attempting to re-litigate issues that have already been decided”. That is the case here.”

Bell v. Fishka, 2022 ONCA 683 (CanLII) at 1-2, 13

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