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Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision

In Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision, a CAT Member will be assigned to conduct an online hearing through the CAT-ODR system. Users have a chance to provide evidence and arguments about their case to the Member. The Member will then make a decision and write a final order, which the Users must follow.

User Guide

The CAT has developed a guide to help Users understand and use the CAT’s online system in Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision.

  • Access the CAT’s Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision User Guide here. [WORD] [PDF]

Have a Question?

If you have a question about any of the information you’ve read, please contact us. We have a team available to answer any questions you may have.

Tribunal Decision Process

In Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision, the CAT Member conducts an online hearing through the CAT-ODR system.

During the hearing, the Member assigned to the case will ask the Users to provide their evidence and arguments about why they think the Member should make a decision in their favour. Users will also have an opportunity to identify witnesses that can provide evidence about the issues in dispute

The CAT Member assigned to the case will also control how and when the Users can exchange messages and add documents on the online system. Users can review their permissions at any time by visiting the Schedule Tab.

After the Users have had a reasonable chance to provide their evidence and arguments, the Member will make a final and binding decision based on the facts and the law. Users will receive the Member’s order and decision through the CAT-ODR system.

The Stage 3 process will vary from case to case. The CAT Member assigned to your case will give you instructions once they join.

Settlement Offers from Stage 1 and 2

Any settlement offers that the Users exchanged in the Negotiation and Mediation stages are confidential and cannot be shared with the Member in the Tribunal Decision stage. This encourages Users to work openly towards resolving the issues in Stages 1 and 2. It also ensures that the Member in Stage 3 only considers the evidence and the law, and that they are not influenced by knowing what each User had said or offered in the earlier stages.

Confidentiality in Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision

Any messages, documents or other material posted to the CAT-ODR system in Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision are adjudicative records and will form part of the record of the proceeding. That means that they may be provided to the public on demand in accordance with the CAO’s Access and Privacy Policy.

Additionally, at the conclusion of a case in Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision, the assigned CAT Member will issue a Decision, which will be posted on the CAT website. That Decision will include information about the evidence and arguments made by the Users during the hearing.

The CAT can, however, take steps, give directions or issue orders to protect the confidentiality of personal information, and/or restrict public access to adjudicative records and / or decisions, in accordance with the CAT’s Rules of Practice.  The CAT can do so on its own initiative or on request.

For more information, you can access the CAT Confidentiality User Guide on the CAT’s Rules, Policies and Guides webpage.

Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision

FAQ

If you missed a deadline to add a document or a witness, you can submit a request for permission to add a late document or witness on the Questions and Requests tab.

If the deadline to do something else (like post a message, for example), you should send your Member a message in an open topic in the Written Hearing tab.

At the end of the Tribunal Decision stage, the Member can order the Users to:

  • do something, or stop doing something
  • pay money to another User
  • pay the costs or expenses of another User; or
  • pay costs to the CAT.

The Member can also order any User to do anything that the Member thinks is fair.

You will receive the Member’s order and decision through the CAT-ODR system when the Member has finished writing it. This will usually happen within 30 days of the end of the hearing.

The Member’s decision is final and binding. The CAT can correct minor errors (like typos) under the CAT’s Rules of Practice, but the CAT cannot change the outcome of a case once a decision has been issued.

The CAT Rules of Practice also allow a User to ask that the CAT reopen a case if the decision was issued after the User failed to respond or participate in the case.

For more information on your options, please visit our After your Case page here.

If another Applicant is not actively participating in the case, you may want to contact them. Since they aren’t participating in the case, you should try contacting them offline / outside of the CAT-ODR system.

If you tried contacting an inactive Applicant but they aren’t responding, please contact the CAT by sending us an email at CATinfo@condoauthorityontario.ca.

In Stage 3 – Tribunal Decision, if one of the Applicants is not participating in the case, the CAT Member may issue an order to remove them.

The CAT’s decisions and orders are available to the public and are posted on our website. You can read through the CAT’s decisions and orders to get a sense of what the Member will consider. For more information on what the CAT publishes, please visit the CAT Decisions and Orders page here.

You can make a complaint about a Member by following the process outlined in the CAO’s Public Complaints Policy, which is available on our website here. Please note that you cannot make a complaint to change the outcome of your case.

If you are currently involved in a case in Stage 3 -Tribunal Decision and you have concerns about public access to your case’s adjudicative records or final decision, you should raise your concerns with your assigned CAT Member.

You can also make a request for the CAT to anonymize or limit public access to adjudicative records, decisions or orders by sending an email to: CATinfo@condoauthorityontario.ca.

When making a request, you should include:

  1. The CAT case number;
  2. Your relationship to the case (e.g., you were the Applicant);
  3. What information or portions of the record / order you wish to anonymize or restrict public access to (e.g., request to anonymize the identity of a witness); and
  4. The reasons why this information should be made confidential.

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