Legal Blog

Evidence at Trial

1162740 Ontario Ltd. v. Pingue 2017 Ont CA

Defendant lost at trial and appealed. He wanted to appeal a decision by the trial judge to refuse to admit into evidence an expert’s report that he tendered very late. The trial judge did not mark the report as an exhibit (lettered or numbered). The Court registrar did not allow the defendant to include in the report in the appeal record. The defendant was in an impossible position; he could not argue his appeal because the report was crucial to the argument. The Court of Appeal allowed the defendant to add the report to the appeal book and noted that trial judges should always identify a document that is discussed as a numbered exhibit (if properly proven) or a lettered exhibit (if not) so that an appellate court can review the document if it is relevant to an appeal.

Written by Jonathan Speigel Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.