Case Center does not replace filing requirements currently in place, such as the Ministry’s Justice Services Online (JSO). Material filed into JSO is not automatically placed into Case Center. Material filed at the counter or through email will not be uploaded into Case Center by court staff. After court documents have been accepted for filing, parties must upload accepted signed/stamped documents to Case Center themselves, except as explained below.

In all Regions, except Toronto and the East Region:

For Family Cases (not including cases brought under the Child Youth and Family Services Act), Court Services will upload filed documents to Case Center on behalf of self represented litigants.

For Civil Cases, self represented litigants should attempt to upload documents to Case Center if possible.  Court Services will review event bundles and, where appropriate, take steps to ensure that the self represented litigant’s filed materials are available in Case Center for the judicial official presiding at the event.

To file your documents with the court:

For Civil, Divisional Court, and Family proceedings: Counsel and parties are expected to issue and file their documents electronically, along with any necessary filing fees, by using the Ministry’s Justice Services Online (JSO) platform through the appropriate portal – for Civil and Divisional Court use the Civil online filing portalsand for Family use the Family online filing portals. Once accepted by the court clerk, documents will be considered to have been issued or filed on the date indicated in the document.

See additional procedures for filing materials in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction for Civil Proceedings and additional procedures for filing materials in Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction for Family Proceedings. Filings must comply with restrictions that have been placed on the length of material that can be submitted in connection with each event, such as limits on the number of pages for an affidavit or conference brief.

Tip – you should only upload the version of your document that has been returned and marked accepted. If you filed using the Justice Services Online portal, this will be the version that was attached to the “accepted” email. If you filed using the counter, this will be the version that was signed and stamped by the clerk.

For Criminal: All filings for Criminal matters must follow the direction set out in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction in Criminal Proceedings and any additional modifications set out in the respective Regional Practice Direction.

It is only once your documents have been accepted for filing that you may upload them into Case Center.

All documents uploaded to Case Center must follow the Court’s standard document naming protocol, as follows:

• Document type (including the form number in family cases),
• Type of party submitting the document,
• Name of the party submitting the document (including initials if the name is not unique to the case), and
• Date on which the document was created or signed, in the format DD-MMM-YYYY (e.g. 12- JAN-2021). **It is important that the date field follows this format, or the document will display the date of the upload rather than the date it was filed.**

For example, documents should be uploaded into Case Center as follows:

• Expert Report – Defendant – Loblaws – 13-MAR-2021
• Financial Statement Form 1 – Respondent – A. Wong – 21-NOV-2021
• 11b Application – Defence – Nathanson – 12-JAN-2021

Document names shall not include firm-specific naming conventions, abbreviations, form numbers or file numbers.

The exception to the above naming convention is for a judicial official’s order or endorsement. If you are uploading a previous order or endorsement into Case Center, it must be uploaded into the Orders and Endorsement bundle. This allows the judicial official to see the order history rather than having to search through each event bundle. Since the order/endorsement will not be clearly associated with a particular event/bundle, the order must be clearly identified, such as:

1. Order – Motion for Leave to Appeal – Justice XYZ – 10-DEC-2021
2. Endorsement – Pre-trial – Justice ABC – 04-MAR-2022

Please ensure you add a number to the order or endorsement so that they will be organized in chronological order.

It is mandatory to upload into Case Center:

• Every document you have filed with the court in respect of the hearing or conference;
• Any other document in the court file that you intend to rely on at the hearing or conference that has not been submitted to Case Center by another party;
• A compendium containing the excerpted portions of the cases and of the evidence to which the party intends to refer during the hearing or conference (for civil cases);
• A completed Participant Information form; and,
• Any previous orders and endorsements.

Parties are asked to upload draft orders into Case Center for review by the judicial official.

Documents must be uploaded at least 5 days in advance of the hearing, or at the same time as any filing deadlines that are less than 5 days as set out by a rule of court or a Regional Notice.

Parties are encouraged to upload their accepted court filings into Case Center as soon as they receive access to the case and bundle. Uploading documents in advance of the 5-day deadline helps to ensure that the presiding judicial official has sufficient time to review your documents before the hearing.

Parties must ensure that all previous orders and endorsements in the case that are relevant at the hearing have been uploaded into the Orders and Endorsements sub-bundle in Case Center so they can be accessed by the judiciary at future hearings. Parties must also ensure that all pleadings have been uploaded into the Pleadings sub-bundle in Case Center. For family cases, parties must also upload Form 35.1/A affidavits into the Pleadings sub-bundle so they can be accessed at upcoming events.

It is also counsel’s obligation to upload proposed exhibits into Case Center within the appropriate event bundle. Each exhibit should be clearly labelled and uploaded as a separate document, as the Registrar can only add one electronic exhibit stamp per document.

If you are the last defence counsel to fill out the pre-trial conference form in a criminal matter before the Superior Court of Justice, you must upload the form into the “Pre-Trial Conference Form” section of the Judicial Pre-Trial bundle. For more information on the pre-trial conference form, please visit Criminal Rules & Forms.

1. Prior to uploading to Case Center, counsel must ensure the prefix -ph- is at the beginning of the file name so that the file name appears as follows: -ph- JPT form.pdf
2. After upload, Crown and Defence counsel may access the form by navigating to the “Review” page of the case and selecting “Click hyperlink to download document here.”
3. If any edits are made to the form, after it has been uploaded by the last defence counsel, the updated version of the form must be uploaded to Case Center by following these steps:
   1. Access the “Sections” tab of the case on Case Center.
   2. Select View Documents next to the “Pre-Trial Conference Form” section.
   3. Select Upload New Version. Case Center will replace the previous version of the form with the updated copy.
   4. The updated version of the form can be downloaded through the “Review” page of the case.

The following two videos walkthrough how to fill out and upload your completed Judicial Pre-Trial form to Case Center:

For more detailed information on using this feature, you can access the following resource here.

The following documents should not be uploaded to Case Center:

1. Sealed Documents – Unredacted versions of documents that are or, are proposed to be, the subject of a sealing order should NOT be uploaded into Case Center. Although the notice of motion for the sealing order can be uploaded, the unredacted document proposed to be sealed must be emailed to the Trial Coordination Office, identifying the case name, court file number and the hearing date (if assigned), together with a request that the document be forwarded to the presiding judge or associate judge as a sealing order is being sought. If the hearing takes place by telephone or video conference, immediately following the granting of the sealing order, the moving party must enclose an unredacted version of the document in a sealed envelope, append the court order/endorsement to the envelope, and file it in hardcopy at the court office for inclusion in the court file.
2. Motions for Removal as Lawyer – In motions for removal as lawyer of record under rule 15.04(1.2) and (1.3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, unredacted motion materials should not be uploaded into Case Center. Similarly, in motions to remove a lawyer under r. 4 (13) of the Family Law Rules, evidence in support of the motion should not be uploaded into Case Center. These documents should be emailed to the Trial Coordination Office for delivery to the judicial official, unless a regional practice direction provides for another method of delivery.
3. Judicial approval of settlements involving parties under disability – Where a motion or application under rule 7.08 of the Rules of Civil Procedure requires redaction pursuant to subrules (4.2) and (4.3), unredacted motion or application materials, as the case may be, should not be uploaded into Case Center. Unredacted motion or application materials should be emailed to the Trial Coordination Office for delivery to the judicial official, unless a regional practice direction provides for another method of delivery.
4. Affidavits of Service – In civil cases, upload affidavits of service only if service is contested or proof of service is necessary for determining the motion (e.g., motions where responding materials were not filed, solicitor removal motions, motions to add a party (defendant), etc.). Upload affidavits of service to Case Center in all family cases.
5. Criminal Matters – The following items should not be uploaded into Case Center for criminal matters:
   • Materials or documents that could be considered child pornography.
   • Documents referring to a confidential informant.
   • Unless specifically directed by the court to do otherwise, Crown and defence counsel will not upload the following documents into Case Center:
     • a sealed document;
     • a document for which a sealing order is sought;
     • a privileged document, or a document where privilege is being asserted; or
     • any other document where counsel have concerns, until judicial direction is given. If counsel have concerns about uploading any specific item, they should seek the direction of the Court at a judicial pretrial. Counsel should ensure that this direction is placed on the record at the subsequent court appearance to be endorsed on the indictment or other written record by the Registrar.