What the memo should be about

Amanda Rogers is your boss and she represents a client called Justin. Justin runs the Helio Cafe. Six months ago, Justin hired Amanda after he received a notice letter stating that Sara Bailes and Lana Davis intended to sue his business for personal injuries because both had slipped and fallen in front of his cafe. Amanda contacted Sara and Lana's paralegal and made a $10,000 settlement offer but the offer was rejected.

Yesterday Justin was served with a Plaintiff's Claim. The plaintiffs Sara Bailes and Lana Davis, who are friends, allege that on January 4th of last year they were visiting the Helio Cafe when they both slipped and fell on the allegedly icy ramp leading into the Helio Cafe. Sara is claiming damages in the amount of $19,000 for pain and suffering and loss of income. Lana is claiming damages in the amount of $21,000 for pain and suffering and loss of income

Justin emailed Amanda a copy of the Plaintiff's Claim and asked her the following:

"Hi. I have a few concerns here. First of all, Sara and Lana are suing me for $19,000 and $21,000, but that's $40,000 when you add it up. I thought that the limit in Small Claims was $35,000, so how can they sue for $40,000? Shouldn't they give up that extra $5,000 if they want to stay in Small Claims Court? I read the Rules of the Small Claims Court, and rule 6.02 seems to suggest that they are essentially splitting their $40,000 case to avoid the Small Claims Court limit. I'm also worried that if Sara and Lana find out that $40,000 is indeed too much to ask for in one lawsuit, they will then just abandon this lawsuit before trial and start separate lawsuits instead (one for $19,000 and one for $21,000) in order to avoid exceeding the limit. I feel that, whether it's one lawsuit or two, I shouldn't be facing a total of more than $35,000 in Small Claims Court!

I have one final concern: If they are allowed to sue me for these amounts in Small Claims Court (whether they sue together or individually), wouldn't this case ultimately be too big and complicated for Small Claims Court? Two people are asking me to pay a total of $40,000. Do you think that this case can and should be transferred to the Superior Court of Justice?

Amanda wants you to write a full memo to help her answer Justin's questions

Your research should focus only on statutes and cases. Rule 6.02 as mentioned above is a good starting point, but it's not enough. You would need to find cases discussing this rule to see the full meaning of the rule. The rule also doesn't address everything that this memo needs to discuss, so you would need to find additional law as well.

CanLII is a good resource to find cases that discuss rule 6.02