Key legal question
Whether relying on an undisclosed medical statement violated the right to be heard in summary proceedings.
Extracted holding
No. In summary proceedings, where the judge need only make the facts credible, failure to give the opposing party prior access to the evidence does not normally amount to a denial of justice.
Extracted reasoning
The court distinguished ordinary proceedings from summary proceedings. In the latter, the judge may establish the facts with or without the parties and may dispense with prior notification of evidence when this is appropriate, especially in urgent cases. Given the concordant statements of the two doctors about the respondent's poor health, the appellate court could treat the facts as credibly established.