IBU v LAH

The Appellant (“IBU”) applied to permit the late filing of his Appeal. The Decision being appealed from was pronounced on February 9, 2016, which provided for a filing deadline of March 9, 2016 in accordance with Rule 13.4(1). IBU attempted to file the Appeal on that date, but was unable to do so because of some uncertainty as to whether he was entitled to have the filing fee waived. On March 10, 2016, he returned with documentation clarifying his entitlement to waiver of the filing fee. Rule 14.8(2)(a)(iii) requires the Appeal to be filed within “one month”, so the filing was one day late.

Justice Slatter noted that the Appeal was brought pursuant to section 21 of the Divorce Act, RSC 1985, c 3 (2nd Supp), which requires filing within “30 days”. Rule 14.8(2)(a)(i) recognizes the timelines set out in another enactment for filing an Appeal. Because the Decision was rendered in February, which has only 29 days, technically the Appellant was not late in filing the Appeal and no extension of time was required. Justice Slatter set out new deadlines, as the Appeal was a Fast Track Appeal under Rule 14.14(2)(b), and stated that the Respondent’s materials were required to be filed in accordance with Rules 14.24(1)(b) and 14.27(3). His Lordship directed that, if the deadlines were not met, then the Appeal would be struck under Rule 14.16(3).