The Applicants were pursuing Judicial Review of a recently approved general rezoning bylaw in upcoming proceedings (the Bylaw). They applied for advice and directions on meeting their obligations pursuant to Rule 3.15(3), which requires service of an Originating Application for Judicial Review on every person directly affected by the Application. The Applicants did not want to serve ever property owner impacted by the Bylaw. The Respondent, the City of Calgary, opposed the Application.

The Respondent argued that every owner of property covered by the Bylaw is or would be “directly affected” by the Application. Justice Lema agreed. However, Lema J. found that such conclusion did not require the Applicants to serve each owner individually. Rather, a newspaper advertisement previously published by the Applicants constituted a method of service that “brought or was likely to have brought the document to the attention of the person to be served”. As such, it was sufficient to meet the requirements of Rule 11.27. In particular, Justice Lema noted that service in this form was appropriate where the persons to be served resided in the city where the newspaper was published. As such, the Applicants were not required to serve each owner individually.