Status Hearings

If an appeal has not been set down for hearing or terminated by any means within 60 days after the filing of the reply or after the last day for the filing of the reply, whichever is later, the Court may schedule a Status Hearing by sending a Notice of Hearing to the parties at least 30 days before the date fixed for that hearing. The Notice of Hearing will detail the time, date and place of the hearing.

The purpose of the status hearing is to set time limits for the completion of any remaining steps following the filing of the Reply to the Notice of Appeal. These include the filing of lists of documents, examinations for discovery, the completion of undertakings made at discovery and the fixing of the time and place of hearing. In some cases it may involve a discussion about the possibility of holding a trial management conference or naming a case management judge. The Court may canvass whether the issues have been properly defined, settlement has been discussed and consider directing that a settlement conference be held. The Court will determine whether the appropriate pre-trial steps in the appeal have been completed, what the approximate length of hearing will be and the appropriateness of fixing a date for hearing.

A status hearing will normally be held in person unless otherwise directed by the Court. Where the parties have been served with a notice of status hearing, the Court will consider an application by any party to have the status hearing conducted by conference call or by videoconference. For more information, please see Practice Note 7.