When will a court strike the jury in a civil matter in London?

Accordingly, I prefer to ground my decision on the principle that a court may look beyond the parties’ interests and consider the broader interests of the administration of justice (as per Hourigan J.A. in Louis v. Poitras, para. 25). To the extent that another window of opportunity to hear civil matters presents itself in London, it must be taken advantage of so that the pile-up of civil cases does not grow past the point of being manageable. Provisionally striking the jury notice, albeit imperfectly, attempts to address that problem.

I recognize that the trial date is over four months away. When I decided to employ the “wait and see” approach in Smith v. Muir, 2020 ONSC 8030, the trial date was a similar amount of time into the future. In that case I expressed optimism that we would have clarity on an end date for the pandemic as the trial date approached. That optimism proved unfounded. Ultimately, my colleague, McArthur J. did strike the jury in that case. That case settled and the queue was shortened.