Determining small claims court venue in Ontario: Where did the transaction take place if the parties are distant from one another?

June 8, 2009 10:47 AM

For the purpose of determining venue for small claims court in Ontario, Canada, what would be considered the municipality where the transaction took place for an eBay sale where buyer and seller are in different Ontario municipalities?

This question came up during a discussion of past eBay transactions gone wrong but there is no current specific scenario to relate.

The venue can be set according to the defendant's location or the location where the transaction took place. But where did the transaction take place if the two parties were in different places at the time of the transaction?

posted by winston to Law & Government (1 answer total)

I can't answer this question, but this clarification might change the search for answers: the wording of the Rules of Small Claims Court is that the venue can be either the defendant's resident territorial division or "where the cause of action arose", not "where the transaction took place". The only reported small claims case I could find about an ebay transaction noted that the plaintiffs filed in their home county, but the matter was transferred to the defendants' county at a settlement conference.
posted by girlpublisher at 11:13 AM on June 8, 2009