All too often, people will seek some kind of indulgence and not really offer a proper explanation. Once or twice, this might work, but after a while the request based on “family matters” presumably taking precedence just won’t work.
Consider the case of a Buyer who apparently needed numerous extensions both to the closing date, and to Court dates as well. The only justification put forward was “family matters”.
On the morning of the Court Motion, the Defendant Padovani had his new lawyer attend and say that he had just been retained and was not familiar with the file, so he couldn’t proceed. His first lawyer was in Court, but he had been dismissed, and Padovani himself was to be excused due to “family matters”.
Here’s what Judge Charney said on 4 July 2019 in Greco v. Padovani:
Mr. Padovani has failed to provide a legitimate explanation for dismissing his lawyer on the eve of the scheduled hearing date and seeking an adjournment the morning of the hearing.
The cryptic explanation of “family matters” is the same excuse used by Mr. Padovani for his failure to close the APS in 2017 and 2018 (see para. 4 of the Respondent’s factum).
This vague reference to “family matters” is not a sufficient basis to adjourn a long motion date scheduled seven months ago on consent.
Mr. Padovani has cried “family matters” too often.
This is clearly a delay tactic by Mr. Padovani, and will not be countenanced by the Court.
The result was that the Court proceeded with the Motion.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker