What is a Request for Particulars [legal terminology explained]

Описание: A request for particulars, also known as a demand for particulars in certain jurisdictions, is an important legal tool that is used by the recipient of a pleading to assist them in responding to that pleading, such as a statement of claim or a statement of defence. The request for particulars seeks further details (material facts), but not evidence, about the allegations and contents of the pleadings that the recipient is required to respond to, such that they might properly respond to that pleading.
The statutory authority for a Request for Particulars is found in the jurisdiction’s Rules of Court, such as Rule 3.61 of the Alberta Rules of Court, which sets out the core statutory principles of a Request for Particulars.
The Rules of Court, and other statutes, also establish the particularity required for certain claims that a party pleads, such that further particularity might be sought by way of the Request for Particulars, including: breach of trust, fraud, misrepresentation, wilful default, undue influence, and defamation. (See Alberta Rules of Court, Rule 13.7)
The purpose of the Request for Particulars, is that the responding party “has sufficient information to understand the position of the adverse party and to prepare a proper response, whether it be a defence or a reply.” (See Astra Aktiebolag v. Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (1995) 61 C.P.R. (3d) 178 (F.C.T.D.), at page 184.)
As the Federal Court said in Balcorp Ltd. v. American President Lines Ltd., 1997 CanLII 5416 (FC): “At that early stage, a defendant is entitled to be furnished all particulars which will enable him to better understand the position of the plaintiff, see the basis of the case made against him and appreciate the facts on which it is founded so that he may reply intelligently to the Statement of Claim and state properly the grounds of defence on which he himself relies, but he is not entitled to go any further and require more than that.”
However, it is not intended to allow for discovery to the extent that will arise in a subsequent phase of court proceedings, as was outlined by the Federal Court in Fortier 2000 Ltée. v. Matiere, 2001 FCT 992 (CanLII): “However, before the filing of its defence the defendant is only entitled to particulars which are necessary for filing its defence. A request for particulars before defence ought not to be a fishing expedition and in any event is not as broad as discovery.”
In turn, the Request for Particulars is not designed to procure evidence from the adverse party at this stage of the Court proceedings, as outlined in Croy v Alberta, 2022 ABQB 575 (CanLII): “Pleadings should contain facts but not evidence. Material facts are facts upon which the party pleading relies for its claim, whereas evidence consists of the manner by which those facts are to be proved. Requests for particulars that are in the nature of a question of law or mixed fact and law need not be answered.”
It should be noted that there are timing considerations associated with a Request for Particulars that are best served by the requesting party seeking the written consent of the other party to an arrangement that allows for service of the Request for Particulars, appropriate time to reply to the Request for Particulars, potential time to address any deficiencies in the Reply and thereafter prepare and file the responsive pleading that the Request for Particulars sought to address.
If an appropriate arrangement cannot be reached with the other party to schedule these steps, the Rules tend to have a very tight schedule for taking each of the steps, and may well require Court intervention where there is a dispute as to the sufficiency of the response to the Request for Particulars.