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Rule 48 on calendar

The administrative dismissal of actions for delay has caught many lawyers by surprise, and has led to several hundred claims and almost $10 million in claims costs in just three and a half years.

On January 1, 2015, a welcome amendment to the administrative dismissal rule – Rule 48 – came into force. The amended rule puts off the dismissal of stalled actions until the later of January 1, 2017 or the five-year anniversary of commencement of the action. While this change buys lawyers time, it also opens the door to claims related to misunderstanding of the transition provisions, or to waiting for a future notice of dismissal that never comes: under the new version of the rule, actions will be dismissed without notice.

A resource to help bring your files up to speed

To help lawyers avoid these new pitfalls, the practicePRO program has developed a “Rule 48.14 Transition Toolkit” for lawyers. The toolkit is available at Categories: 2015 September - Insurance Issue 2016, Admin dismissals/Rule 48, Articles, Civil Litigation, Time Management