Here is my update as of April 4, 2020 from our weekend conference call.
Courthouse Closure
The Facilities Management Branch advises that they are conducting an enhanced cleaning of the courthouse commencing today and is expected to be completed on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. An additional two days is then anticipated to verify air quality. A re-opening of the courthouse is therefore expected Thursday April's 9, 2020. This cleaning protocol is consistent with that followed by other courthouses.
Difficulties may arise with conduct of court proceedings over the next few days. Court informations cannot be retrieved since no one can physically enter the building until cleaned and verified. The protocol will be for this time, to work off courtroom dockets and scope access, with an update to the paperwork once the building is cleared to be accessed by staff. Jurists will be provided with additional endorsement pages along with the dockets which will be attached to the paper informations once access to the courthouse is permitted.
Courts will run this week entirely by teleconference at the locations indicated in my update Friday, April 3, 2020. Updates to ICON will be inputted remotely by staff with the exception of new Informations which do not have assigned ICON numbers.
Newmarket Courtroom Call In Numbers were emailed to you. They are also posted on the Members Only Page.
I anticipate a further update on Monday morning.
Sincerely, Norman Panzica, York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
Here is my Newmarket OCJ update for April 3, 2020.
The Newmarket Courthouse is closed today. I have included the call in numbers and court closure notice below.
The Newmarket Courthouse has been closed today to address cleaning and air quality concerns. The courthouse will remain closed until an enhanced cleaning can be completed.
On April 2nd, 2020, the ministry was advised that an individual, who works in the courthouse and last worked on March 31, 2020, began to feel ill at work. The individual has not returned since and was advised by Public Health to self-isolate.
Although the Newmarket courthouse receives enhanced cleaning on a regular basis, the courthouse is closed to permit a thorough cleaning to be completed. The courthouse will remain closed until confirmation of both appropriate cleaning and air quality is provided. The Ministry is being asked to assist in this verification.
Signs are posted on the building with alternative court locations and contact email information. Court services available by email.
As usual, and particularly today, patience from all is requested. There were incredible and significant efforts employed overnight to shift facilities and resources to permit a functioning and available court process for today.
Bail Vettor
The bail vettor continues to be Jeffrey Costain. He can be reached by emial at: jeffrey.costain1@ontario.ca.
Resolution Crown
The resolution crown this morning and likely to continue next week is LeeAnne McCallum. She can be reached at: LeeAnne.mccallum@ontario.ca.
Newmarket Call In Numbers/Codes were emailed to all criminal lawyers. They can also be viewed on the Members Only page of this website.
Justice partners, members of the bar and media,
To protect all court users during the COVID-19 crisis, all but urgent hearings in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (SCJ) were suspended, effective March 17, 2020. Today, Chief Justice Morawetz and all eight Regional Senior Justices issued new Notices to the Profession. They expand the SCJ’s virtual court operations in each region, effective April 6, 2020.
Attached are two Provincial Notices to the Profession from Chief Justice Morawetz (Criminal and Civil/Family). They address a variety of issues including emailing material to the court, service by email, media access to court proceedings, and gowning. They include links to the eight Regional Notices to the Profession. The eight Regional Notices identify which matters may be heard in each region, and the process to have a matter heard.
Also attached is a memo from the Office of the Chief Justice that provides a summary of the Notices to the Profession issued today, for information purposes only.
All SCJ Notices to the Profession relating to COVID-19 may be accessed at: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/ or on FOLA’s website.
Katie W. Robinette, Executive Director, FOLA.ca, 647-280-9340
Need answers to COVID-19 issues regarding the practice of law? CLICK HERE.
Here is my Newmarket Update for April 2, 2020.
Bail Hearings
There is a desire to improve the efficiency of bail hearings and reduce court time required for those hearings. To assist with efficiency and speed, the assigned bail vettor is Jeff Costain: Jeffrey.Costain@ontario.ca for the remainder of this week and for next week.
Counsel are also asked to be efficient as possible and strive to stay within the allotted time slot. Resources as precious as are time slots. All participants need to be as efficient and prepared as possible and accurate when making time estimates. Counsel should determine circumstances where sureties require interpreters and include additional time in the time slot. The goal is to complete hearings within the allotted time slot, including time for jurist to consider and rule on contested matters.
Bail Positions
With respect to bail positions the Crown has been making all concessions possible, but must follow their directive namely, that public safety remains paramount. Crown will keep an eye on contested matters so that they can be addressed as efficiently as possible. Efforts are ongoing by all to determine as early as possible which matters require more time and adjust the scheduling accordingly.
Access To Law Library
There is no issue taken at this time with access to law libraries provided appropriate social distancing is applied by users.
In Custody Time Slots - New Arrests
York Regional Police have been attempting to use the 11am to 1 pm time slot to address new arrests as this is the time when Central East is available. Difficulties are occurring based on the time often required by Duty counsel to make appropriate inquires, such as bail program and sureties, prior to properly address new arrests. New arrests have on occasion been addressed later in day when possible and necessary, in order that those inquires can be made and the matter can be properly addressed. Attempts are being made in concert with police to open more afternoon slots for new matters than are new and require additional time to make necessary inquiries prior to being addressed appropriately.
Resolution Crowns
There is a daily resolution crown available by email. Today is LeeAnne McCallum LeeAnne.mccallum@ontario.ca
Fingerprints
Anyone with an existing fingerprint date at the courthouse is still not required to attend. With respect to new matters fingerprints are being taken at 2 District and not at the courthouse.
Sincerely
Norman Panzica
York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
Attached is our third weekly update re: COVID-19 & the legal profession. As a reminder, for the past two weeks, our calls with the Courts, MAG, the LSO, and other provincial law associations were daily. As of this week, these calls are weekly occurrences and take place on Wednesday mornings. As such, you will be getting ONLY the weekly updates which are also posted on our website here.
Also, a document with some responses from the LSO to questions from members that related to the Law Society was emailed to you today. This is not on our website.
All the best, Katie W. Robinette, Executive Director, FOLA.ca, 647-280-9340
In an effort to keep real estate lawyers updated with the ever-changing situation, we have further information to be shared with the real estate lawyers in your association.
The provincial government has issued a Notice to Land Registration System Clients confirming that Teraview continues to run for both search and registration, OnLand continues to run for search and various request functions, and that the all land registry offices are scheduled to be open from Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 12:00pm.
The Notice can be found in English and French on our website here.
The replay of the Law Society free audio webcast from Friday, March 27 entitled “Your Real Estate Practice and the COVID-19 Pandemic: What You Need to Know Right Now” is now available.
The link to the audio program is here and the link to the resource materials is here.
Lawyer Done Deal has created a remote signing portal for lawyers where you canpost documents to clients, host virtual closing meetings and view client signing activity, all while meeting social distancing and legal obligations. This portal is being offered free to all lawyers, whether or not you already have a LDD or RealtiWeb account.
They are also working on including a client verification element that will be Fintrac compliant. More information is available on the LDD website here.
What happens if a client’s ID has recently expired or will expire this month? Renewals of passports and driver’s licences are currently suspended, so clients will not be able to get new ones while this pandemic continues.
The Ontario government has extended the validity and expiration date of driver’s licences and Ontario Photo Cards. See here for more details. We think this means that you should still be able to accept an Ontario driver’s licences as valid identification, even if the expiry date has passed.
Information on the Government of Canada Passport Services can be found here.
A new Tarion Advisory was published on March 26 in response to the Emergency Order passed by the provincial government suspending limitation periods. Tarion has suspended all warranty claim submission deadlines – the 30 day, year end, second year, major structural defect, delayed closing, financial loss and deposit claims deadlines have all been suspended. Once the Emergency Order has been lifted, homeowners will receive a reasonable extension to submit their forms. Tarion has also suspended timelines relating to builder repair periods, except for emergencies or health and safety issues.
The March 26, 2020 Tarion Advisory can be found here.
FOLA’s letter of March 26, 2020 regarding MCAP’s recent decision to close all refinance transactions through either FCT or FNF is posted on our website here.
Working Group Fees, Disbursements & Taxes Calculator
Given the additional work that lawyers and their staff are doing in order to complete transactions during these challenging circumstances, many lawyers might be reviewing the amount of legal fees they are charging.
The Working Group on Lawyers and Real Estate has a Suggested Fee Schedule, which can be found here.
In addition, they have now added a Fees, Disbursements & Taxes Calculatoron their website which can be accessed here.
This new calculator does many things, simply by answering a few questions.
Once you enter the value of the transaction, if you indicate your quoted fee, it will compare it to the suggested fee schedule, as a % of all costs and to the HST on the real estate agent's fees, which is great for marketing.
It will also:
If and when we receive further information of interest to the real estate bar, we will pass it along.
Merredith MacLennan and Eldon Horner, FOLA Real Estate Co-Chairs
Here is my Newmarket OCJ Criminal Court update for April 1, 2020.
In Custody Remote Scheduling
More planning and communication between counsel, duty counsel and the trial coordinator is resulting in more productive use of time slots from Central East Corrections.
Duty counsel has primarily carried the burden on communicating with private counsel to assist with both scheduling matters and, as well, with getting counsel on the phone at the appropriate time. Duty counsel emails private counsel in advance and has access to counsel phone numbers. In this regard they have been successful in facilitating counsel audio appearances at the appropriate times, even when off an accused appears off schedule.
Bail Vetting
The crown is attempting to make known as early as possible who will be vetting bails so that positions can be communicated to Duty Counsel and Private counsel. In addition this will assist in timely delivery of surety information and identification to the bail vettor to improve overall efficiency of the bail process. Early release of the name of the day's bail vettor is important as it changes daily.
Surety Approvals
When sureties attend the courthouse they are directed a desk to fill out a form and send same along with identification to private counsel or duty counsel. They are then asked to wait outside the courtroom to be available when needed for an audio call into court. There have been communication issues with sureties as bail courts are in the basement where cell reception is poor. They will now be directed to a better service area, perhaps on the second floor to improve audio communication.
There is a potential for the court to adopt a bail policy and process dispensing with surety signatures on bail documents. This matter is under consideration as a formal position is expected shortly.
Same Day Traversals
There is still difficulty in arranging for a same day traversals and hence is this is generally not available. Those matters are normally adjourned to the appropriate courtroom the next day to be dealt with. However, if there is for example, a bail matter scheduled that has just become a time served guilty plea, and if same can be communicated early enough in the day to the trial coordinator, then an attempt will be made to move the matter to a plea court. This is an exceptional request but efforts will be made to accommodate same.
Dear Law Association Presidents and members,
FOLA continues to engage, as a stakeholder, along with others, to negotiate and advocate on behalf of the LAO practising lawyer.
Below is the newest successful advancement of expanded LAO services to be engaged during COVID-19.
The email from Marcus Pratt, as forwarded herewith, is self explanatory but should you have questions or additional commentary, please, reach out to me: terrylbrandon@sympatic.ca.
These materials are also located on our website along with regular updated COVID -19 practice information and can be found at : https://fola.ca/legal-aid
Wishing you stay well, Terry L. Brandon, FOLA LAO Chair
Subject: Emergency Certificate Coverage for Temporary Absence Passes
Good afternoon:
Please feel free to share this information with your members.
As part of LAO’s continuing response to COVID-19, lawyers will be able to apply for legal aid coverage on behalf of in‑custody clients requesting temporary absence permits.
A new application form will be available on our website by Friday, April 3, 2020.
This follows the Ontario government’s announcement that it would expand the use of temporary absence permits by allowing authorized inmates to be absent from an institution unescorted for a period of 72 hours or longer.
Lawyers may immediately start work related to obtaining TAPs on your clients’ behalf, but you must submit an application, once available, to receive coverage.
How it will work
After downloading and filling in the application form, email it to the address provided.
We will process it without legal and financial testing, or merit consideration.
Each application requires that the lawyer attest to the following conditions to obtain coverage:
We will issue a legal aid certificate in advance. Signed consent and declaration forms may be submitted after May 29, 2020, where required.
See https://www.legalaid.on.ca/in-briefs/legal-aid-ontario-to-provide-coverage-for-temporary-absence-permit-tap-requests/
Take care and be safe, Marcus
Please find below link to our April 2020 Newsletter with all the important links to information your members need, tips and resources for lawyers during the epidemic, news about our Awards (note – the deadline has been extended!), and more!
Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3dJC1QQ
It’s also available on our website here: https://fola.ca/fola-newsletters
And attached is the latest Response Update from the SCJ to association members’ questions.
Here is my Newmarket OCJ court update for March 31, 2020.
In Custody Matters
There continue to be some issues in effectively addressing in custody Central East matters. As scheduling of remote in custody appearances is done region wide, accurate time assessments are essential and need to be provided the day before to the trial coordinator in order to efficiently and effectively schedule court lists. It may be preferable to separate in custody appearances by court based on substantive appearances, such as bail matters, versus simple remands.
There is an issue arising from clogging in custody lists with unnecessary appearances, as this takes valuable time from addressing substantive in custody matters. Counsel are asked to remand in custody clients as long a period of time within their objectives as appropriate. In addition, the former practice of short remands to ensure an accused is not moved between institutions is no longer necessary as in custody accused will not be relocated if they adjourned for a longer period of time.
Counsel are asked to advise if there are difficulties accessing clients at Central East Corrections using access defense. There have been reports of in custody accused waiting days to speak with their counsel.
Counsel Entering the Courthouse
Concerning courthouse access by counsel, while counsel may be permitted to enter the building, they are not to enter the courtroom. Counsel who attempt to enter the courthouse can no longer use pass cards but instead must be screened by security.
Access to the courthouse by counsel solely for purpose of accessing the law library is an issue that is under review and will be canvassed further today. Denying physical access at this time prevents members from using electronic research materials via LexisNexis, as this electronic research access is only available to members while physically in the law library. Access by counsel for the sole purpose of attending the law library is currently being reviewed and a formal position is anticipated shortly.
New Surety Approval Protocol
There is a new draft protocol for surety approval given the current environment. The protocol is close to receiving approval and is anticipated to be implemented shortly.
The Courtroom Call In Numbers list has been updated. See the Members Only page for the new numbers
Norman Panzica, York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
York Region Law Association 50 Eagle St W, 3rd Floor Newmarket ON L3Y 6B1 905-895-2018 / 1-866-221-8864