Toronto Small Claims Court offers settlement conferences where the opposing parties can meet with a judge to try and solve the dispute without the need to go to trial. Settlement conferences in Toronto have to take place within 90 days of the first defence being filed.
Everyone involved in the dispute including representatives and lawyers must attend the settlement conference. If one of the disputants is a company the representative of the company must have the authority to negotiate a settlement even if this means that they need telephone access to someone in a position to have the final say.
If your case is referred to a settlement conference then you are obliged to attend and failure to do so could result in you having to pay the other parties court costs. Usually if you fail to attend the first settlement conference another one is scheduled. It is vital that defendants attend the settlement conference because the judge will make a decision in your absence if you miss two scheduled settlement conferences.
You must file copies all proposed evidence with the court when you apply for your small claims trial including a list of witnesses. You must also serve the defending party with all of your evidence and serve the witnesses with a ‘Notice to Attend’ and their witness fee.
Witnesses do not attend the settlement conference; each side explains the evidence they have and how it proves their case and talk about the relevance of each witness and how their testimony would back up the claim. The settlement conference provides a background for both sides to listen to the arguments for and against the claim and if they wish they may reach an agreement on the claim, which means that they case need not go to the Small Claims Court for trial and additional court costs are avoided. If the parties fail to reach an agreement the case will go to trial. For claims under $500, the disputing parties can agree to let a judge decide the case at the settlement conference by signing a Consent form. This means that if the disputing parties cannot reach an agreement themselves at the settlement conference the judge will decide over the case as he / she would have done at a small claims trial. This has the benefit of saving all parties time and money.