The Court of Appeal schedules chambers matters before one judge and court hearings before three judges. There are two schedulers in the Court of Appeal. Hearings before the registrar are scheduled separately through the registrar's office.

Available Court Dates

For Scheduling purposes, the Court is now posting available court dates. This list is to assist counsel in discussions with others on when to schedule hearings before a Division of the Court. Counsel will still have to confirm dates with the Court Scheduler.

Appeals and Reviews

Under the Court of Appeal Rules, Rule 28 states an appeal is ready for hearing before three judges when the appellant's appeal record, factum and appeal book is filed and the appellant has filed a certificate of readiness in Form 14 with the corresponding fee (Fee Schedule).

If an appellant does not promptly file a certificate of readiness, the respondent may file the certificate and obtain dates for the hearing.

After filing the certificate of readiness, the party who filed the certificate must contact the court scheduler to obtain a date for hearing. Once a hearing date is obtained, the party must then file and serve a notice of hearing in Form 34.

If the person filing the certificate of readiness does not file a notice of hearing within two months after filing the certificate, the appeal will be treated as an inactive appeal and the provisions of s. 25 of the Court of Appeal Act apply. The appeal will eventually be dismissed as abandoned.

The Court of Appeal sits regularly for ten months of the year. There are two weeks of sittings in the summer months for urgent matters.

Court hearings are usually scheduled for one half day or one day (two or four hours). Court begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Requests for appeals longer than one day may be subject to a review by the law officer or a judge. Counsel gown for appeal hearings. There is a charge for each half day the appeal is heard (Fee Schedule).

Review Applications

To schedule a review of a decision of a chambers judge pursuant to Rule 34, a party must file and serve within seven days of the decision, a Notice of Application to Review in Form 15, an affidavit if required and, within 14 days of the application, a motion book. This review will take place before three judges. The date of the appearance will be chosen by the court scheduler.

Chambers

Chambers hearings are scheduled on every day of the week, except when the registry indicates a day is closed for hearings. A party setting down a matter in chambers files and serves a notice of motion, supporting affidavit and, where required by the Rules, a motion book. Rule 33 governs chambers applications. There is also a fee associated with a chambers application. The party scheduling the matter chooses the date for the hearing, preferably after confirming availability of the other parties. The date is included in the notice of motion (Form 6). All chambers hearings start at 9:30 a.m. Chambers hearings should not last more than 30 minutes. Counsel are not required to gown for chambers.

Scheduling Out-of-Town Hearings

All court hearings are scheduled through the Vancouver court scheduler except for Whitehorse sittings. For Whitehorse, contact the Yukon registry.

Victoria chambers matters can be scheduled either through the Victoria registry or through the Vancouver registry.

Telephone and Videoconference Hearings

With permission, chambers applications may be argued remotely by using either the telephone or videoconferencing equipment. Please review the Practice Note on this topic.

Court hearings are always argued in person. If there is an urgent need to have the appeal argued using telephone or videoconferencing equipment, the court's permission is required.

Hearings Before the Registrar

The Court of Appeal registrar has jurisdiction to settle orders (Rule 49), assess bills of cost (Rules 63-68), and settle the contents of the transcript (Rule 20(4)).

To make an appointment to appear before the registrar, a party contacts the Registrar's Office (604.660.2729) and obtains a date for the hearing. Registrar's hearings are conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year, except during August.

Registrar's hearings for out-of-town litigants are conducted by telephone conference. The party responsible for scheduling the hearing is also responsible for arranging for the telephone conference through the telephone operator.

Once a party has obtained a date for the hearing, the party is required to file an appointment in Form 29 with the Court of Appeal Registry, either in person or by fax (604.660.1951). A fee of $80.00 is payable for the appointment.

The order to be settled or the bill of costs to be assessed is attached to the appointment. The party filing the appointment determines how many copies are needed for service and for their own use. One copy is kept by the registry. All copies of the appointment are signed and stamped by the registry. The remaining copies are returned to the filer.

If a party on an assessment intends to rely on facts at the registrar's hearing, that party must also file an affidavit to support those facts.

All appointments and supporting material must be served according to the Rules with the appropriate notice. For an order, the filing party must serve the appointment on the opposing party at least one day before the hearing is scheduled. For an assessment of a bill of costs, the material must be served at least five days before the hearing.

The registrar does not overbook hearings. If you have settled a matter or want to adjourn a matter, please contact the registrar's office as soon as possible. Only the party taking out the appointment may adjourn the hearing to another day. Other adjournment requests are made to the registrar in writing or in person. The request for an adjournment will be considered on the day of the hearing, unless the scheduling party has consented to the adjournment.