The Applicants sought to restore their Appeal after their Appeal had been struck pursuant to Rules 14.16(3) and 14.64(a) for failure to file an Appeal record.

The Court noted that, their Appeal having been struck, the Applicants faced a further deadline to restore their Appeal. Rules 14.47 and 14.65(3) state that an Application to restore a standard Appeal that has been struck, dismissed or deemed abandoned must be filed, returnable and granted within six months of the Appeal having been struck, dismissed or deemed abandoned.

In this case, the six-month deadline would have expired on May 25, 2020 and the Appeal would have been deemed abandoned on May 26, 2020. However, under Ministerial Order MO 27/2020 made by the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, limitation periods were temporarily suspended from March 17, 2020 to June 1, 2020. Therefore, the Applicants had brought their Application within six months.

The Court considered the test for restoring an Appeal and found there was no arguable merit to the Appeal and declined to restore the Appeal.