Can a party who has not produced evidence in favour of their position, or has no reasonable explanation for failing to call the evidence?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Claim Your Benefits v. D.B., 2020 BCCRT 333 (CanLII):
19. If a party fails to produce evidence in favour of their position, and has no reasonable explanation for failing to call the evidence, an adverse inference may be drawn (see Zawadzki v. Calimoso, 2011 BCSC 45. In this matter, the respondent has not provided any evidence in response to the claim. The respondent did not provide any explanation why she did not provide a statement from her spouse explaining the circumstances or why she did not provide her own signature samples. By failing to provide this evidence, or an explanation for its absence, I draw an adverse inference against the respondent’s claim that she did not sign the agreement. Based upon this adverse inference and the similarity of the signatures, I find that it is more likely than not that the respondent did sign the agreement.
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