Can I appeal a small claims judgment?
Short answer
No. In Quebec, a judgment of the Small Claims Division of the Court of Quebec is not subject to appeal, and neither the judgment nor the proceeding may be the subject of an application for judicial review, unless there was a lack or an excess of jurisdiction (art. 564 of the Code of Civil Procedure).
In detail
That finality is the price of a simple, low-cost procedure. What remains is the application for revocation of judgment, set out in article 345 and the articles that follow, which covers specific situations: a judgment obtained by the fraud of another party, a judgment based on false documents, decisive documents that could not be filed because of superior force or because of another party's actions, a judgment that adjudicates beyond the conclusions sought, among others.
The time limit is short: article 347 provides that the application is served within 30 days after the day the cause of the impediment ceased, or the day the party learned of the judgment, of the evidence or of the fact giving rise to the revocation. It must then be presented to the court within 30 days after service.
Article 350 specifies that an application for revocation does not suspend enforcement of the judgment, unless the court so orders.
What to document
The exact date you learned of the judgment or of the new fact, and proof of the fact that would justify revocation (a false document, a document you were unable to file, the impediment). Those two dates drive everything else.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
Open the application Up to 3 files, no card · see the plans
Official sources
Related questions
- How do I get my file from my employer, my insurer or a company?
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.