Video Transcription:
I’d like to explain to you today the process for fighting a traffic ticket in Ontario. It’s a difficult conversation to have and it’s a difficult explanation, so I’m going to go slowly and go into great detail so that we have a complete understanding of how the whole process works.
To fight a ticket in Ontario, there are two types of tickets that we’re going to deal with. My other videos actually explain the different types under Part 1 and Part 3. Part 1 tickets are simply tickets, for example, and on those tickets, they’re readily identifiable by a fine on the bottom. That’s called an out-of-court settlement. You have an option to pay that ticket. I’ll explain to you that’s not always a good idea, but that’s a simple ticket under Part 1.
The next type of a traffic ticket in Ontario is actually called a summons. On a summons, they’re distinct because you do not see any fine listed whatsoever, and it has another piece of very important information, which is a court date. It has a time, date, and place in a court that you need to attend. So on that ticket, those are considered more serious under Part 3, and you already have your court date.
We’re going to return to the Part 3s in just a moment. Let’s talk about Part 1’s and what to do, and how you start the process of fighting that particular ticket. On a Part 1, once you’ve received the ticket, you’ll see that the fine is there, and if you flip it over, it explains what you have to do next. Because the concern on a Part 1 or traffic ticket is that if you do nothing, or you wait too long, they’re going to do something for you. They make the assumption that you don’t want to do anything about this ticket, and they’re just going to convict you by not doing a thing. Very different from a Part 3, where they’re already taking care of this part for you.
So in a Part 1, you have a duty, a responsibility to yourself to actually file that ticket. You’re going to find out how to do that simply by reading the back of the ticket. Every community is a bit different, but it’ll tell you how to do that as you move forward. Now, the two processes become more aligned and more similar as we move forward. You’ve now filed for that ticket under a Part 1, and in the mail, you’ve been notified that you now have a court date, identical to a court date under Part 3.
Now that you have two court dates, you have the next step, which is you need to prepare for that. Part of the process is going to be a need to order disclosure on that particular matter. What disclosure is, is exactly what you intend to fight. You need to know exactly what the prosecutor or the Crown is alleging that you’ve done. So you need to know the case against you. The way to find that out is to order disclosure.
Now, on a Part 3, that disclosure is usually available on your very first appearance, the one that you would have seen on your summons and on your very first date, but not always. In most cases, on a Part 1, it usually is available by your court date, and in some communities, it’s available beforehand. So you want to follow those instructions and find out so that as soon as you can, you want to get a hold of that case. You want to find out what exactly you’re facing.
At your first appearance under Part 1, that first court date, sometimes it’s an early resolution meeting where you have an opportunity to simply speak to the prosecutor and maybe resolve the matter. At a meeting like that, the prosecutor is either going to decide to withdraw the charge completely, they may decide to offer you a resolution, maybe a reduction, or they may say, “Well, we’re still lacking disclosure, and we’re going to provide this,” and may put that over. So typically under Part 1, there may be two or three appearances before the court over several months to perfect the case against you, or the other side of it is you need to perfect the defense for yourself. Sometimes there are adjournments on these matters and they take some time. Typically though, under a Part 1 ticket, you’re going to see on average six months to nine months to complete that matter.
On a Part 3, you will see multiple adjournments to do the same sort of thing. You’re going to perfect the defense for yourself. You may need to talk to your witnesses. You may need to take some witness statements. You’ll have an opportunity to review the case against you with that disclosure, and you’ll also have an opportunity—and you should take that opportunity—because when you meet the judge, they’re going to want to make sure that you took the opportunity to talk to the Crown, the prosecutor.
There have been many cases where clients have gone to the court, did not know that procedural step, did not know that step in the process, and the judge has simply said, “Hey, have you done this?” and when you say no, you haven’t, well, they’re going to order that it happen. And that’s simply you sitting down with the prosecutor and tabling your potential defense, and talking to the prosecutor about it in light of trying to resolve it.
Now, the agenda for you may be, “Well, I just want them to withdraw because I feel innocent.” It doesn’t quite work that way. There are steps that you’re going to need to take and you’re going to need to consider before you openly engage in conversations about what happened with a prosecutor in those meetings.
Getting back to the process, the next step, assuming all of that’s done, is a court date. And the next court date is going to be, “Well, have we resolved this case, or are we setting it for trial?” Under a Part 1 ticket, usually the next step, once all that’s happened, is they’re going to simply set a trial.
Under the other type, a summons, or the more serious under Part 3, there are several things that are going to happen. For example, the court and the prosecutor need to consider how long the matter will take at trial. Most Part 1 matters are going to be under an hour, maybe two hours tops to complete. Under a Part 3, many of those matters take more than a half a day, so it’s a long trial. Anything over a half day, there are other processes that come into play, including a mandatory meeting with the prosecutor to discuss how to resolve it. You’re going to look at what witnesses can be eliminated on either side, whether it’s defense or Crown, and the goal is to be conservative and tighten up how much court time it’s going to take.
In many of these cases, they could take as long as a couple of days. So, when that happens, now the court wants to take that meeting that was not successful, or they’re concerned that you may take too much time in a courtroom, and they’re going to set what’s called a judicial pretrial.
What a judicial pretrial is, is simply a meeting between the judge, the defense counsel—which is probably yourself—and a prosecutor. They’re going to look at the veracity or the integrity of any one witness and whether they’re important to the case in either a defense role or a prosecution role. If there’s value, of course they’d be called, but all of those calculations are based on what sort of evidence they’d be bringing to the court and how long it would take.
So now, in that meeting, what they’re going to do is look at the quantum, meaning how long that particular trial is going to take. The goal is to shorten that period of time, or more importantly, it’s another opportunity to find a resolution that both the defense and the prosecutor would be happy with, that they could reach a resolution and they could simply plead out to that particular matter and that would be the end of it.
But assuming none of that’s happened, it cannot be resolved, and both matters are going to trial. The next step in the equation, after all those adjournments and many, many months, is the trial. And trials, like I’ve said, could be an hour or they could be a couple of days. And that is essentially sort of the umbrella look at how the process works for fighting a ticket in Ontario.
