What is the evidentiary basis for an application for an adjournment and publication ban?

The issue in this case is whether counsel’s statements provide a sufficient evidentiary foundation for the orders that the defendant seeks. The applications for an adjournment and a publication ban both require the exercise of judicial discretion to consider competing interests. In the case of the adjournment, the contest is between the defendant’s need for additional time to prepare its case and the potential prejudice to the plaintiff if the case is adjourned. With regard to the publication ban, the court must weigh the salutary effects of the publication ban against the deleterious effects to the free expression of those affected by the ban: Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1994 CanLII 39 (SCC), [1994] 3 S.C.R. 835.