“Section 6(1)(b) of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, provides that an appeal lies to the Court of Appeal from “a final order of a judge of the Superior Court of Justice”, while s. 19(1)(b) provides that an appeal lies to the Divisional Court from “an interlocutory order of a judge of the Superior Court of Justice, with leave as provided in the rules of court”. Long ago, in Hendrickson v. Kallio, 1932 CanLII 123 (ON CA), [1932] O.R. 675 (C.A.), at p. 678, Middleton J.A. for the court explained the distinction between final and interlocutory orders:
The interlocutory order from which there is no appeal is an order which does not determine the real matter in dispute between the parties – the very subject matter of the litigation, but only some matter collateral. It may be final in the sense that it determines the very question raised by the application, but it is interlocutory if the merits of the case remain to be determined.
Since Hendrickson, the court has, on many occasions, considered and refined the distinction between final and interlocutory orders. For example, in Ball v. Donais (1993), 1993 CanLII 8613 (ON CA), 13 O.R. (3d) 322 (C.A.), at p. 324, the court held that even where an order does “not finally dispose of the rights of the parties to the litigation”, it will be final for the purposes of appeal if it disposes of an issue raised by way of defence and “thereby deprive[s] the defendant of a substantive right which could be determinative of the entire action.” And in Buck Brothers Ltd. v. Frontenac Builders Ltd. (1994), 1994 CanLII 2403 (ON CA), 19 O.R. (3d) 97 (C.A.), the court held that an order disposing of an application is a final order if it ends the particular proceeding before the court, even if it does not finally determine another, quite possibly larger, issue between the parties which may be determined in a subsequent proceeding or process.
Recently, in Paulpillai Estate v. Yusuf, 2020 ONCA 655, at para. 16, Jamal J.A. (as he then was) summarized the applicable principles as follows:
The main principles that determine whether an order is interlocutory or final are well known:
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- An appeal lies from the court’s order, not from the reasons given for making the order.
- An interlocutory order “does not determine the real matter in dispute between the parties – the very subject matter of the litigation – or any substantive right[.] Even though the order determines the question raised by the motion, it is interlocutory if these substantive matters remain undecided”.
- In determining whether an order is final or interlocutory, “one must examine the terms of the order, the motion judge’s reasons for the order, the nature of the proceedings giving rise to the order, and other contextual factors that may inform the nature of the order”.
- The question of access to appellate review “must be decided on the basis of the legal nature of the order and not on a case by case basis depending on the application of the order to the facts of a particular case”. In other words, the characterization of the order depends upon its legal nature, not its practical effect. [Citations omitted.]
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The decision of this court in Karbaliotis v. Anaheim Unit Investors (1996), 1996 CanLII 715 (ON CA), 89 O.A.C. 58 (C.A.) exemplifies these principles. There, a judge set aside an assessment officer’s certificate of assessment and directed a trial of an issue. On appeal to this court, the appeal was quashed on the basis that it was interlocutory in that it did not finally dispose of the rights of the parties.
Similarly, in Zaldin & Zaldin v. Carpenter, 1994 CarswellOnt 4517 (Div. Ct.), citing this court’s decision in Buck Brothers Ltd., the Divisional Court held that an order setting aside a certificate of assessment and remitting the matter for a new hearing was interlocutory. In contrast, in Somerleigh v. Brayshaw (1993), 15 C.P.C. (3d) 160 (Ont. Div. Ct.), the Divisional Court held that an order that set aside an assessment officer’s report but settled the account was a final order. The motion judge had finally determined the substantive issue between the parties.
As in Kabaliotis and Zaldin, in the case before us, the motion judge set aside the certificate of assessment and directed that a new assessment be conducted before a different assessment officer. The motion judge did not finally dispose of the matter. The subject matter of the litigation between the parties and their substantive rights remain to be determined. As a result, the order Ms. Singh seeks to appeal is interlocutory.”