Litigants in person (GPN-LIP)

Attachment B – Objectives of the Court

The objectives of the Court (section 37M of the Act):

The overall purpose of the Court is to resolve disputes by applying the law, and to do so as quickly, cheaply and well as possible.

The Court manages its cases with this purpose in mind. The Court also applies the rules of practice and procedure to meet this purpose. The rules of practice and procedure are set out in the Act and in the Rules.

Parties must help the Court meet its purpose (section 37N of the Act):

The parties must help the Court to meet its purpose. They will do this by doing their best to resolve their dispute. This includes when they meet to discuss a possible settlement of their dispute. A settlement is when the parties agree outside of court how they will bring their dispute to an end. A party’s lawyer must help them to solve their dispute.

The Court may ask a lawyer to give their client an idea of how long it will take to resolve the dispute in court and what the costs may be. Costs include the fees of the lawyers, as well as other fees due to Court and others. This will help the party decide if it is worth their while to go on with the court case, or whether it will be better to settle the case.

If a party does not do their best to resolve the dispute, including during negotiation for settlement, the Court may make an order of costs against them.

If a party’s lawyer did not help them to solve their dispute as quickly, cheaply, and well as possible, the Court may make a costs order against the lawyer. In that case, the lawyer may not charge the money back from their client.