Community Legal Assistance Society - BC Judicial Review Self-Help Guide

The Court’s Decision

The judge may give you an oral judgment right at the end of your hearing, or she or he might reserve the decision until another day. This means that the judge will think about your case and release a decision at a later date. The judge will tell you at the end of the hearing whether judgment is being reserved.

If judgment is reserved, you may have to come back to court on another day to hear the judge give an oral decision. The other option is that the judge may give written reasons, in which case the registry will contact you before the reasons are released. You then can get the reasons by e-mail or you can go to the courthouse and get a paper copy of the reasons.

If the judge gives oral reasons, pay attention to what the judge is saying, and try to write it all down. If you have a friend with you, ask him or her to write it down as well.

Generally, listen for:

  • Whether the court has “set aside” or “quashed” the Residential Tenancy Branch’s decision;
  • Whether the court makes some other type of order; and
  • Whether the judge orders court costs.

Unless the judge tell you otherwise, the judge’s decision is in effect from the date it is pronounced, even if a written order has not been drafted yet.

The party that loses the judicial review can appeal the decision to the BC Court of Appeal within thirty days from the date the court issues its order. You should get legal advice if you are considering an appeal.

This website, jrbc.ca or judicialreviewbc.ca, is produced for educational purposes only. This website has information on common situations, but does not cover all possible situations. You should not rely on this website as legal advice. If you have a legal problem, you should get legal advice on your particular situation.

This website may contain inaccurate or misleading information. The law, including statutes, regulations, court rules, court practices, and court precedents can change without warning and those changes may not be reflected in this website. The Community Legal Assistance Society, its funders, its authors, its contributors, its editors, and the distributors of this website are not responsible for ensuring this website is up-to-date, ensuring the completeness or accuracy of the information contained in this website, or any form of damages or monetary loss caused by or attributed to the use of this website, including but not limited to claims based on negligence or breach of contract.

Site by the Community Legal Assistance Society. Content available under Creative Commons CC BY-NC licence. This guide is made possible by funding from the British Columbia Ministry of Justice and the Law Foundation of British Columbia. This guide was originally produced by David Mossop, Q.C.
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