In Saskatchewan, your first step in preparing your pleading is deciding in which Court you should file your pleading. There are two levels of civil court. The first level is Small Claims Court, which is considered a part of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan. In Small Claims Court your claim cannot exceed $30,000.00. The second level is the Court of Queen's Bench. If you pursue your claim under this Court, you can either take the usual course or chose to pursue your claim under Expedited Procedure. The latter is limited to claims of up to $100,000.00, questioning of a party is time limited, you must file a joint request for a pre-trial conference within one year of the service of the claim, and you must be able to complete a trial within 3 days.

It should be noted that Small Claims Court in Saskatchewan uses different terminology and has different procedures than our Queen's Bench. We have focused on the latter for this guide.

If you pursue your matter under the Queen's Bench, your Statement of Claim ("Claim") must be issued in the Court and contain all material facts to prove your claim and should outline the damages and remedies you wish to seek from the Court in your Action. After it has been issued, you have 6 months to serve the Defendant with the Claim. After service, the Defendant must serve you with a Statement of Defense ("Defense"). The timing for this depends on the jurisdiction of defendant in relation to the Claim. In the same vein as the Claim, the Defense should contain only material facts. You may wish to consider if you want to make a Third Party Claim, Cross-Claim, Counterclaim, and/or a Request for Particulars at that time. The Plaintiff is also entitled to reply to the Defense, although this is not a common occurrence.

The Limitations Act of Saskatchewan generally requires that Court action is pursued within 2 years of the cause of action arising.