Drop Dead or a Slow Death? An Analysis of Rule 4.33 of the Alberta Rules of Court

Authors

  • Melissa Morrow
  • R. McKay White

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/alr2601

Abstract

From 2010 to 2013, the "Drop Dead Rule" in the Alberta Rules of Court underwent major amendments that resulted in new jurisprudence for resolution of all such applications. In this article, we conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of the consequences of these amendments and the causes of these consequences. We find that the increase in applications, the longer time to resolution, and the inequitable impact on impecunious plaintiffs result in outcomes contrary to the objectives stated in the Foundational Rules. We provide evidence of the extent of these failures and recommendations on how to amend the Drop Dead Rule to result in fairer, more just, timelier, and more cost-effective resolutions.

Downloads

Published

2020-08-01

Issue

Vol 57, No 4

Section

Articles

License

For Editions following and including Volume 61 No. 1, the following applies.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License

For Editions prior to Volume 61 No. 1, the following applies.

Author(s) retain original copyright in the substantive content of the titled work, subject to the following rights that are granted indefinitely:

  1. Author(s) grant the Alberta Law Review permission to produce, publish, disseminate, and distribute the titled work in electronic format to online database services, including, but not limited to: LexisNexis, QuickLaw, HeinOnline, and EBSCO;
  2. Author(s) grant the Alberta Law Review permission to post the titled work on the Alberta Law Review website and/or related websites.
  3. Author(s) agree that the titled work may be used for educational or instructional purposes and/or in educational or instructional materials. The author(s) acknowledge that the titled work is subject to other such "fair dealing" provisions and applicable legislation.
  4. Author(s) grant a limited license to those accessing the titled work from an electronic database or an Alberta Law Review website to download the titled work onto their computer and to print a copy for their own personal, non-commercial use, subject to proper attribution.

To use the journal's content elsewhere, permission must be obtained from the author(s) and the Alberta Law Review.