Limitation period.

Period of time within which any step must be taken in a proceeding in Ontario, including any intended proceeding, subject to the discretion of the court, tribunal or other decision maker responsible for the proceeding.

If your matter was approaching the expiration of a statutory limitation period, you can take comfort that the limitation period has now been suspended, as of March 16, for the duration of the emergency.

Even if your matter is not close to the limitation period, you should closely monitor the duration of this suspension.

Procedural deadlines, such as those under the Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194, are suspended. While the Order provides the court or other decision maker to order otherwise, you should consider any such deadlines suspended, unless you hear otherwise. Ontario court operations have been suspended for all non-urgent matters.

If you are approaching a deadline that is the result of an agreement between counsel (and not set out in a rule, statute or other instrument), you should discuss the status of that deadline with opposing counsel. A plain reading of the Order does not appear to suspend deadlines not prescribed in a rule, statute, regulation, by-law or government order.

You should also note that the language of the Order does not appear to suspend procedural deadlines set by court order. To the extent that an upcoming deadline relates to a court appearance or face-to-face meeting, you should continue to follow guidance from the courts regarding the rescheduling of appearances. For other court-imposed deadlines for steps that do not require any in-person appearance, you should continue to use best efforts to meet these obligations and communicate any difficulties to opposing counsel in advance.