Dismissal of a court action for inordinate delay ( want of prosecution) requires four criteria:
1) Has there been an inordinate delay;
2) Is the inordinate delay inexcusable;
3) Has the delay caused or is likely to cause serious prejudice to the defendant; and
4) On balance does justice require a dismissal of the action?
Rule 22-7(7) provides that the court may order that a proceeding be dismissed if it appears that there is want of prosecution in the proceeding.
The BC Court of Appeal in Wiegert v. Rogers, 2019 BCCA 334 set out the relevant considerations in respect of applications for want of prosecution as follows:
1. On an application to dismiss for want of prosecution, it must be shown that there has been inordinate delay, that the inordinate delay is inexcusable, and that the delay has caused, or is likely to cause, serious prejudice to the defendant. In addition, the final and decisive question, which encompasses the other three, is whether, on balance, justice requires a dismissal of the action: Azeri v. Esmati Seifabad, 2009 BCCA 133 at para. 9; 0690860 Manitoba Ltd. v. Country West Construction Ltd., 2009 BCCA 535 at paras. 27–28.
Inordinate delay is delay that is immoderate, uncontrolled, excessive and out of proportion to the matters in question: Azeri at para. 8; Sahyoun v. Ho, 2015 BCSC 392 at para. 17.
2. In Sun Wave Forest Products Ltd. v. Xu, 2018 BCCA 63 at para. 25, the concept is relative: some cases are naturally susceptible of fast carriage or call for more expeditious prosecution than others. Although there is no universal rule as to when time starts to run, the date of commencement of the action is typically identified as the point from which delay is measured. The delay should be analysed holistically, not in a piece-meal fashion, and the extent to which it may be excusable is highly fact-dependent: Ed Bulley Ventures Ltd. v. The Pantry Hospitality Corporation, 2014 BCCA 52 at para. 38; 0690860 at para. 29.
3. Once a defendant establishes that delay is inordinate and inexcusable, a rebuttable presumption of prejudice arises: Busse v. Chertkow, 1999 BCCA 313 at para. 18.
The concern is with the prejudice that a defendant will suffer in mounting and presenting a defence if the matter goes to trial: 0690860 at para. 27.
Relevant matters could include failing memories, unavailable witnesses and the loss or destruction of physical evidence.
4. whether, on balance, justice requires dismissal of the action — again, the determination is highly fact-dependent.
Relevant matters could include the length of and reasons for the delay, the stage of the litigation, the context in which the delay occurred and the role of counsel in causing the delay (although negligence on the part of a plaintiff’s lawyer may not always amount to an excuse): International Capital Corporation v. Robinson Twigg & Ketilson, 2010 SKCA 48 at para. 45; 0690860 at para. 29.
