Areas of Focus: Types of Cases Handled

Question: What types of cases can be litigated in Small Claims Court in Ontario?

Answer: Small Claims Court in Ontario handles various cases, including breached contracts, unpaid business debts, construction disputes, consumer protection issues, employment disagreements, insurance coverage denials, realty disputes, and tortious conduct like negligence or defamation. Understanding these can be complex, but addressing your legal rights with professional assistance, such as that offered by Caruso Legal Services, can help navigate this intricate legal landscape effectively.

Understanding the Types of Cases that May Be Litigated in Small Claims Court

The law is much too large for any person to ever know in full.  Indeed, even highly experienced judges with decades of experience will be without full knowledge of the law and are therefore, usually, assigned to handle a narrow focus of cases that are within areas of law that are familiar to the judge.  Even so, judges will routinely expect representatives for the parties to perform precedent research and then provide submissions and present argument based upon the findings of that research.

Accordingly, there will be certain judges who will hear civil law cases and there will be other judges who hear family law cases and then other judges who hear criminal cases, etc.  In a similar fashion, lawyers and paralegals will develop specific areas of law as the types of Small Claims Court cases that are focused upon.  Of course, it is true that every case has a unique factual situation; however, the law and justice system, developed over hundreds of years and there will now be few cases where the legal issues are a first; and accordingly, relevant law containing the fundamentals and principles for most circumstances will exist.