Our research team has now identified, analyzed, and entered into the database, over 200 family cases from across the country that raise important issues for SRLs, including costs, procedural fairness, accommodations, and shifting definitions of “vexatiousness” (often used to penalise or to exclude SRLs from continuing). Our goal is to track the emerging jurisprudence thoroughly in order to provide information to SRLs, judges, and lawyers.
We are still adding cases, but this summer we will begin to release a series of Research Reports on different aspects of the trends and themes we are seeing in these cases (going back to 2013). This Report Series will include: SRL Costs for their Time and Work; The Impact of Pintea v Johns; Punitive Costs Against SRLs; Gender-Based Language in SRL Cases; and a more through examination of cases about vexatiousness. (See our preliminary findings here.)
We are planning to publish the SRL Case Law Database on our NSRLP website this summer. It will be available as an open source resource to any SRL or other litigant, lawyers, and of course judges. The Database will be fully searchable using the fields of analysis, and it contains an emormous amount of information. We will also be preparing a summary created specially for members of the judiciary, but available to anyone, of the most important Access to Justice issues that show up consistently in the jurisprudence, reflecting both fair and effective adaptations, and more worrisome trends.
We would like to thank our funders for this important work over the past year: the University of Windsor, the Foundation on Legal Research, and the Law Foundation of Ontario.
Your works are blessings in disguise and I wish you best of health and strength to continue to help others Appreciate lots