A relatively recent amendment to the Court’s Rules of Civil Procedure allows a court to dismiss an action that “appears on its face to be frivolous or vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court”. That provision was recently used to dismiss an action against a regulator and those involved in the discipline of practitioner.
In Khan v Law Society of Ontario, 2019 ONSC 4974, <http://canlii.ca/t/j262p> a practitioner had been revoked after a discipline hearing on allegations of billing irregularities and alleged forged documents. While appealing the decision he also brought a civil claim for damages against the regulator on various grounds. The Court said: “you do not sue an adjudicative tribunal and its members because you disagree with the procedure and the result, especially when you are already appealing”.
This new rule of procedure permits the dismissal of a civil action in obvious cases through a streamlined process.