Expedited Claims in King's Bench

If your claim is under $100,000, it follows a simplified procedure for King’s Bench. For this to apply, the claim must be for one or more of the following:

• money
• land
• personal property
• a builders’ lien

The parties can also agree to use this procedure even if the claim is over the limit or is not for one the listed types of claims.

If you want to use the simplified procedure, you need to file Form 8-3 of the King’s Bench Forms. You also need to put the words “Subject to Part 8 Expedited Procedure” right below the names of the parties on any other court forms you serve or file.

The expedited procedure cannot be used for:

• family law proceedings unless the only issue is the division of family property
• class action lawsuits
• matters where the trial is before a jury

The differences between the regular procedure and the expedited procedure are:

• most court applications cannot be made until the pre-trial conference is complete
• questioning of the other party can only last 2 hours unless the other party agrees to a longer period
• pre-trial conferences must be held within 1 year from when the statement of claim was served
• the pre-trial brief can only be 8 pages long excluding case law or documents you intend to rely on at trial
• evidence can be submitted by affidavit at trial if both parties agree and the evidence is uncontested by the other party

The court can decide at any time that the regular procedure should be used instead. This includes where a judge determines, as a result of the pre-trial conference, that a trial will take longer than 3 days.