The delays to obtain a hearing before the small claims division have almost tripled since the CAQ came to power and even exceed 1,000 days in some places.

It takes an average of 593 days in Quebec before being heard in small claims, compared to 223 days in 2018, the year in which the government of François Legault took office.

Eight courthouses are experiencing longer delays, including Longueuil and Sorel-Tracy, where litigants wait 1,151 and 913 days respectively before being able to appear in court.

Yet the number of cases has dropped markedly in four years, from nearly 20,000 to less than 15,000, according to Justice Department data.

Long wait

Our Office of Investigation has visited various courthouses over the past few weeks to observe the effects of this explosion of delays. For citizens, the wait can be long and stressful (see other texts below).

This is particularly the case of Jean-François Cummins, who had been sued for $5,000 for more than 2,000 days. To his surprise, the case was dismissed in less than three minutes last Monday at the Montreal courthouse.

"I'm happy it's over! I will be able to move on, ”commented Mr. Cummins, visibly relieved.

The same day, in Sorel-Tracy, Mathieu Turner was finally able to tell his story in court, after some 1,200 days of waiting.

“You have to be patient. We must not wait after that to live, ”testified the father of the family.

Lack of judges

Several circumstances explain the current situation, according to the associate chief judge of the civil division of the Court of Quebec. However, the lack of judges to hear and decide these cases remains at the heart of its concerns.

"Me, I can't invent judges if I don't have any. And I don't have any, ”summarizes Martine L. Tremblay, who in October 2020 requested the addition of three new colleagues in Montérégie, where delays are a concern for small claims.

“But there is nothing. So Longueuil is in pain, I do not deny it, ”she laments.

Labor shortage

The lack of attractiveness and retention of staff in courthouses also has its share of responsibility for these delays.

“The elders get tired, go elsewhere. And if we lose our expertise, there are errors afterwards and there are consequences [on the deadlines] ”, exposes an assistant to the judiciary, who is not authorized to speak to the media.

Focus on mediation

In the government, it is believed that these delays are dependent on many factors, which “do not always come under the Ministry of Justice”.

In an attempt to improve the situation, we seem to rely mainly on optimizing mediation, since there is no other sum or program intended specifically for small claims.

The pandemic

The judicial system was paralyzed for five months with the arrival of COVID-19 in Quebec. This explains the peak of 666 days reached last year, according to the associate chief judge of the civil division of the Court of Quebec, Martine L. Tremblay.

The deserted registry

A missing document in the file or a notice of meeting sent to the wrong address: these errors can force postponements and cause delays. The judicial services are responsible for this case management, but are understaffed.

The lack of judges

Associate Chief Judge Martine L. Tremblay is calling for more judges in the civil division, which includes small claims. The positions of judges added to the Court of Quebec in recent years have been for criminal or youth.

Dossiers plus complexes 

The maximum amount that can be claimed in small claims increased from $7,000 to $15,000 in 2015. This increase came with its share of more complicated disputes, which require more court time to process.

A father from Montérégie has been waiting for more than three years to obtain compensation after his son fell off his bike.

“We have been waiting for you for several years, Madam Justice,” said Mathieu Turner last Monday, at the Sorel-Tracy courthouse.

In the summer of 2018, her six-year-old son, Jesse, got on his bike for the first time and fell heavily due to improper assembly by Toys “R” Us. been challenged by the company.

Fortunately, the boy escapes with a few scratches and a good scare. However, the two parties do not agree on compensation.

According to Mr. Turner, the judicial system is very “loose” when it comes to meeting deadlines.

“There are loopholes for everything. You can always object to anything. It never ends, ”he denounces in an interview.

Now that the case has finally been heard, a judgment will be rendered within a few weeks. The procedures got so stretched that Jesse had time to get a new, much bigger bike.

In November 2018, a bailiff showed up at Jean-François Cummins' work and informed him that he had to seize his salary following a judgment rendered against him. In shock, he goes to the Montreal courthouse to try to understand the situation.

He is then informed that he has been prosecuted since June 2016 for a history of assault. A trial was held in August 2018, in his absence, and a judgment now condemns him to pay thousands of dollars to the plaintiff.

“I never received the paper,” explains Jean-François Cummins, who maintains that his address on file was incorrect.

Denying having committed the alleged acts, the citizen filed a request for revocation of judgment in order to be able to defend himself, in vain.

The Superior Court agreed with him. The case was referred to small claims.

The parties finally agreed to meet in court on Monday.

But the applicant did not show up. The judge reversed the judgment previously rendered and, for lack of evidence, dismissed the case.

"There, I want peace," summed up this father of two, who estimates that he has lost some $7,000 in time and money over the past six years.

On August 15, 2015, it rained on André Pélissier's head. Her upstairs neighbor's washing machine failed, causing major damage to her home. Although a judgment has recognized the responsibility of the manufacturers in a previous case, the multinational that faces Mr. Pélissier in small claims does not want a settlement.

“We tried to be very reasonable, so that it could be easily resolved,” laments Mr. Pélissier, during his hearing at the Laval courthouse.

Why did the washer manufacturer insist on a hearing? “We are not able to explain it”, simply drops the septuagenarian. He is also convinced that the company has incurred in legal costs sums greater than the amount of his claim.

“When you are dealing with multinationals, it is certain that for them, their image and the consequences, it can have much more impact. You can expect to have some controversy. »

Judge Jean-Pierre Archambault finally accepted Mr. Pélissier's request in part, ordering the manufacturer to reimburse $2,800.

Richard Delvaux waited more than three years before being able to appear in small claims for a history of an invoice not paid by a client.

On the morning of the long-awaited hearing last March, the judge was forced to postpone the whole thing. The opposing party, who had moved, had never been informed of the trial.

"That's Quebec. I think it's sad, ”dropped the businessman as he left the courtroom.

The registry had however been informed in January 2022 of the defendant's new address. For some reason, the modification had not been entered in the file.

The trial was therefore postponed on a “priority” basis, three months later.

"It's incredible," laments Mr. Delvaux, who also deplores the lack of simplicity and modernity in the system in place.

"You call them, it's complicated. You go on the internet to try to get the file, you can't even have access to the documents, even if it was me who gave them, ”he complains.