The Plaintiffs and Defendants were involved in a dispute over land. The substance of the Action was complex, and involved multiple parties whose Claims have been modified several times since the incidents giving rise to the dispute occurred in 1996. One of the issues before Justice McIntyre was whether the Plaintiffs’ Action was brought in time pursuant to the Limitations Act, RSA 2000 c L-12.

One of the Plaintiffs filed his Statement of Claim in 2013, 4 years after entering into a Consent Order which provided that he may file a Statement of Claim “to stand in place of the issues identified in the Originating Notice”. The Court briefly considered the nature of the Statement of Claim, and stated that Rule 3.12 deals with Actions started by Originating Application. The Court cited the commentary to Rule 3.12, which provides that a “Statement of the Applicant’s Claim” filed upon the Court’s direction is not a Statement of Claim that starts a new proceeding.

The evidence suggested that the Plaintiff was aware of a potential Claim against the Defendants in 2005. Justice McIntyre held that, regardless of the nature of the Statement of Claim, it was not filed in time.