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Bringing a Civil Claim under the 2014 District Court Rules

The following is a general introductory guide describing some straight forward steps that we can assist you with in bringing a District Court Civil Claim. The information contained on this page is not to be relied upon or used as a substitute for obtaining your own independent legal advice to address your specific factual situation.

LegalStreet can assist you at all stages of the following process:

To commence a civil claim in the District Court we can assist you preparing a:

  • Form 2 Cover Sheet

  • Form 1 Notice of Proceeding,

  • Form 12 Statement of Claim, and

  • Form 6 List of Documents Relief On

There is $200.00 Ministry of Justice filing fee payable.

These documents are filed the District Court and after processing copies posted back to the Plaintiff for service upon the Defendant(s).

The Defendant(s) have 25 working days after service to file a Form 12 Statement of Defence and a Form 6 List of Documents Relied On.

Once the parties have exchanged the above documents the Registrar will schedule a Case Management Conference.

During the Case Management Conference a Judge will decide whether the matter should proceed to a short trial or Judicial Settlement Conference (“JSC”). A JSC can be described as a privileged and confidential mediation in front of a Judge, and usually last at least 2 or more hours.

If the matter does not settle at the JSC, that conference concludes and becomes a directions conference for the future steps towards trial.

There are three types of trial:

  • Short trial: where the issues are straight forward, the amount at stake is modest, the case can go quickly to a hearing and will not take more than 1 day to hear;

  • Simplified trial: Disclosure of all evidence relied upon and affidavits of evidence in chief filed and served 15 working days before trial date,  time limits of 50 minutes for cross examination of a witness, 10 minutes for re-examining a witness, and 30 minutes to deliver oral submissions;

  • Full trials: follow the High Court Rules

LegalStreet can assist you with Appearances, Memorandums, Affidavits of Evidence in Chief, Opening and Closing Submissions, Casebooks, and Bundles of Documents.

The Ministry of Justice charges Hearing Fees of $900.00 for every ½ day (of part thereof) after the first half day.