Legal Brief for October, 2011

Provincial Court Lawsuits

The Civil Division of the Provincial Court of Alberta handles lawsuits that relate to day-to-day disputes between individuals or between individuals and businesses, rather than more complicated business disputes, which are generally brought in what is known as the Court of Queen's Bench.  The Civil Division of the Court is informally known as "Small Claims Court", which gives a clear idea of its role in the structure of our court system.

There is a limit on the amount of money that a claim in Provincial Court can involve.  The current maximum is $25,000.00.  If you have a claim that exceeds $25,000.00 you can however waive (also known as "abandon") your right to any amount in excess of $25,000.00 and thereby bring your case in the Provincial Court.  If you do not wish to waive that excess amount, then you must file your lawsuit in the Court of Queen's Bench.

The Provincial Court is designed to be a "do it yourself" system for the public to use.  You are not required to have a lawyer represent you, although you are certainly entitled to retain the services of a lawyer if you so desire.  The forms that you need to prepare and file are available from the Alberta Courts website, and they are very "user friendly" in terms of completion by non-lawyers.

The Court charges a filing fee to process your claim.  If your claim is less than $7,500.00, the fee is $100.00.  If your claim is from $7,500.00 to $25,000.00, the fee is $200.00.  The fee is required to be paid at the time your initiate your lawsuit with the Court.

Once you file your lawsuit (by a document known as a Civil Claim), you are required to ensure that the person you are suing (known as the Defendant) receives a copy of your claim.  This is known as "service".  You are responsible to complete this yourself.  You can effect service of the Claim document by personal delivery to the person you are suing or by sending it by registered mail to their last known residence address, or in the case of a corporation to what is known as their Registered Office.

If the Defendant does not respond within 20 days after being served with the Civil Claim, in most cases you are allowed to file for what is known as a Default Judgment.  This is an automatic judgment issued by the Court, and avoids you having to have a trial of your claim.  If the Defendant decides to dispute your Claim, then the Defendant will file a document known as a Dispute Note with the Court office.  You will be sent a copy of that document.  The Court office will then either schedule your case for a trial date or for a mediation meeting to see if it might be possible for the case to be resolved without having to go to trial.  If the mediation does not result in a settlement, then the Court office will assign you a trial date.

You can obtain further information, and access to the necessary Court forms, by going to the Alberta Courts website at: www.albertacourts.ab.ca and then clicking on the Provincial Court button and then clicking on the Civil (Small Claims Court) button on the drop down menu that appears.

In the Legal Brief for November I will review the other level of Court that is available to initiate lawsuits in Alberta - the Court of Queen's Bench.