(Disponible en français)
The Licence Appeal Tribunal ("Tribunal") has developed the following Practice Direction for amendment requests. This Practice Direction provides general information only and is intended to explain the approach to applying Rule 17 of the Licence Appeal Tribunal Rules, 2023 ("LAT Rules") and the Licence Appeal Tribunal, Animal Care Review Board, and Fire Safety Commission Common Rules of Practice and Procedure, Version 1 (October 2, 2017) ("Common Rules")1. Statutes, regulations, and Tribunal Rules and orders will always take priority over this Practice Direction.
The Tribunal's authority to amend its decisions and orders is set out in Rule 17.
Rule 17(a) provides that the Tribunal may, at any time, correct a typographical error, error of calculation or similar error in an order or decision. Rule 17(b) provides that the Tribunal may at any time, clarify an order or decision that contains a misstatement or ambiguity, which is not substantive and does not change the order or decision.
The Tribunal's authority to make amendments under Rule 17 is discretionary. When determining whether to make an amendment, the Tribunal will consider whether the request falls within the authority set out in Rule 17(a) and/or (b), and, if so, whether it wishes to exercise its authority to amend a decision or order in a particular case.
The Tribunal will only amend a decision or order in keeping with the authority set out in Rule 17. Examples of requests that will generally fall under Rule 17 include:
Examples of requests that fall outside Rule 17 include:
Depending on the facts of the case, if a request does not fall within the Tribunal's authority in Rule 17, it may be open to a party to file a Notice of Motion pursuant to Rule 15 or a Reconsideration Request pursuant to Rule 18 requesting the relief they are seeking.
A party may request an amendment of a decision or order pursuant to Rule 17 by completing the form for requesting an amendment available on the Tribunal's website. Notices of motion or emails requesting amendments will not be considered. Requests for amendments will be considered by the Tribunal in writing.
The requesting party must provide details of the requested amendment including:
Any accompanying information must be limited to one (1) page double-spaced, with 12-point, Arial or Times New Roman font and 1.5-inch margins. The Tribunal may, at its discretion, contact the requesting party or parties for additional information. If a party provides insufficient details or does not complete the required form, the amendment request will be denied.
If a party files a Notice of Motion seeking other relief as well as an amendment, the amendment request will be considered separately from the motion. The party will be required to file a form for requesting an amendment. The Tribunal will make separate determinations on the motion and the amendment request.
An amendment request will normally be considered by the member who made the decision or order that is the subject of the amendment request, but it may also be considered by another member.
If the Tribunal grants the amendment request, an amended decision or order will be released to the parties. If the Tribunal denies the amendment request, the parties will be sent a "response to amendment request" email which provides basic information about why the request was denied.
The Tribunal may amend a decision or order under Rule 17 on its own initiative. If the Tribunal decides to make an amendment pursuant to Rule 17, an amended decision or order will be released to the parties.
The Tribunal is not required to contact the parties before issuing an amended decision or order on its own initiative.
Parties are expected to provide all the information they would like the Tribunal to consider on first request. The Tribunal will not consider subsequent amendment requests pursuant to Rule 17 that are made for essentially the same reasons as the first request.
Depending on the facts of the case, if the Tribunal denies an amendment request, it may be open to a party to file a Notice of Motion pursuant to Rule 15 for the relief they are seeking. It may also be open to the party to file a Reconsideration Request pursuant to Rule 18. These requests will be adjudicated under Rule 15 and Rule 18 respectively.
1 As the wording of Rule 17 is the same in the LAT Rules and Common Rules, all references in this Practice Direction to Rule 17 are to Rule 17 as it appears in both the LAT Rules and Common Rules.