How to pick a court hearing date
When setting a court date, you should speak with the registry staff in the BC Supreme Court that you are conducting your judicial review in. Different registries at different BC courthouses have their own processes for scheduling hearings and it is best to know the details of the registry you are working with.
In order to decide on the hearing date, contact the registry to determine what dates are available and then discuss what dates will work with the other parties. Pick a date that works for everyone.
There are two basic ways to set a date for your court hearing. Which one you use depends on how long you have estimated your case will take.
1. Hearings 2 hours or less
If your judicial review will take 2 hours or less, you can set the hearing for 9:45 a.m. on any day the court hears petitions. In Vancouver, this is every weekday, but some other registries can only hear petitions on certain days.
2. Hearings over 2 hours
If your judicial review will take more than 2 hours, you will need to set a date through the court registry through Supreme Court Scheduling. Call the registry and ask when they next have available dates for a petition hearing in front of a judge. If there are no hearing dates available when you call, ask when the court will be opening up new dates you can book. It will probably be at least a month or two before you can get a court date. Once you have a court date, confirm the date with all parties right away so they continue to hold the date.
Notice of hearing
Once you have a court date set, you must prepare, file, and serve a notice of hearing. You must do this regardless of how long your hearing is set for. Once you have prepared the notice of hearing, you must file it in the court registry. The court registry staff will stamp the notice of hearing when it is filed.
Even if you have already told the other parties about the hearing date, you must formally file and serve a notice of hearing. You must serve a stamped copy of the notice of hearing on everyone who served you with a response to petition form. You have to do this at least 7 days before the hearing date. In calculating “at least 7 days” before the hearing date, you do not include either the day of the hearing, or the day you serve. For example, if you are setting a hearing for a Wednesday, then you have to serve the filed notice of hearing by the Tuesday the week before.
If no one has served you with a response to petition form, then you only need to prepare your notice of hearing and file it with the court, and you don’t need to serve it on anyone. In that case, you can file the notice of hearing any time before your hearing begins.
This is a blank notice of hearing that you can download and fill in: Blank Notice of Hearing
This is an example notice of hearing that you can use as a guide: Example Notice of Hearing