FOLA Calls for Urgent Meeting and Extension on Civil Rules Reform Consultation Amid Deep Concerns

For Immediate Release: April 30, 2025

The Federation of Ontario Law Associations (FOLA), representing the province’s 46 county and district law associations and their members, is raising serious concerns about the Civil Rules Reform Working Group’s (“CRR Working Group”) and its proposed changes to Ontario’s civil litigation process. Following widespread consultation with lawyers across the province, FOLA has in the last week delivered a letter to Ontario’s Attorney General calling for immediate intervention and a full reconstitution of the CRR Working Group.

The CRR Working Group recommendations risk undermining litigants across Ontario. Most civil litigation involves “Main Street” law like personal injury, insurance defence, real estate, and estates law, unfortunately the CRR Working Group does not adequately reflect these practice areas. Rather than modernizing the civil justice system, the proposals would entrench barriers, increase costs for litigants, and devastate the viability of small and sole civil practices — the “Main Street” lawyers who form the backbone of legal service delivery across Ontario.

“Our concern is profound and unreserved,” said Allen Wynperle, Chair of FOLA. “The CRR Working Group’s proposals are deeply disconnected from the realities of civil litigation practice in the majority of Ontario.”

Among the concerns highlighted by FOLA:

• Lack of Evidence-Based Policy: The CRR Working Group has openly admitted its reforms are not based on reliable court data, raising fears that significant policy shifts are driven by anecdote rather than fact.

• Bias Toward Big Law Practices: The CRR Working Group’s lawyers are heavily composed of commercial litigators, with little representation from those who serve everyday Ontarians in areas such as personal injury, estate litigation, insurance defence, and small business disputes.

• Economic Misconceptions: The CRR Working Group has suggested that cases valued under $500,000 are uneconomical to litigate — a view starkly at odds with the day-to-day experience of FOLA’s members who routinely handle such claims.

• Access to Justice Barriers: Proposed front-loading of litigation costs will put the court system out of reach for many Ontarians of modest means and will disproportionately benefit large institutional defendants.

• Structural Unsustainability: The proposals require a level of judicial and court resources that do not exist, risking further delays and bottlenecks rather than streamlining access to the courts.

FOLA is calling on the Attorney General to immediately:

1. Intervene and halt the advancement of the CRR Working Group’s proposals in their current form;
2. Reconstitute the Working Group to ensure fair representation from lawyers practicing across diverse regions and practice areas; and
3. To provide an extension of time for stakeholders to provide feedback (the CRR Working Group had 480 days to come up with a proposal; the stakeholders just 75 days to respond meaningfully)

FOLA remains committed to working collaboratively with the government, the judiciary, and all stakeholders to develop reforms that strengthen — rather than fracture — access to justice across Ontario.

Links to FOLA’s Letters To the AG

Letter dated April 22, 2025 from FOLA to the AG

Letter dated April 28, 2025 from FOLA to the AG

About FOLA

FOLA is a non-profit organization that represents Ontario’s 46 county and district law associations. Most of FOLA’s members are sole practitioners or work in small firms across the province.

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Contact:

Ian Hu

Director of Policy & Advocacy, FOLA

Email: ian.hu@fola.ca