A costs award of $104,000
has been made in a personal
injury case—where the total
judgment was only $375,000.
The “excessive” original claims
for costs ranged from more than
$558,000 on a substantial or full
indemnity basis to more than
$383,000 on a partial basis, both
including GST.
Justice John Murray also
reduced the disbursements from
more than $140,000 to less than
$122,000 and denied a motion
by the plaintiff that the defendants should pick up the tab for
“unreasonable” interest owing on
a loan she made to fund her litigation.
Charles Painter, whose firm
represented one of the defendants, told The Lawyers Weekly
that that decision means the
plaintiff is still on the hook for
$368,186.72, the total amount of
the loan and interest.
“This loan agreement does
nothing to advance the cause of
justice,” the judge commented
after noting it carries an effective annual interest rate of 51.10
per cent. “It is difficult to
believe that any lawyer would
refer a vulnerable client to such
a lender.”
He said the original claims of
Burlington lawyer Kathy Chitt-
ley-Young “dwarf” the judgment
stipulated in a retainer agree-
ment, the quantum was totally
disproportionate to the case and
the disbursements were extra-
ordinary.
“
The Ontario jurist held the time docketed was
excessive, the amounts claimed exceeded those
stipulated in a retainer agreement, the quantum
was totally disproportionate to the case and the
disbursements were extraordinary.
“I was pleased with it,” he said
of the decision on costs, but
added that the trial judgment
has been appealed. His colleague,
J. Murray Davison, who is now
on vacation, was counsel on the
case for the Town of Milton.
Justice Murray pointed out
that the total time spent on the
file by plaintiffs’ counsel and
their clerks “would equal the
annual docketed hours for many
successful lawyers.”
He said the original claims
“raise a number of very troubling
issues.” The plaintiff is a woman
of modest means who was
permanently impaired in a
motor-vehicle accident and she
“is now faced with another
burden of unimagined propor-
tions — a second catastrophic
event — her legal costs.”
The plaintiff borrowed
$150,000 from a company called
Lexfund Inc. to fund disburse-
ments and no repayment of prin-
cipal or interest was required if
she lost the suit. The judge called
the interest rate on the loan
“unconscionable.” n
Electronic surveillance
report tabled
Law enforcement agencies in
Canada successfully requested 551
intrusive electronic surveillance
warrants over the past five years. The
courts refused just two requests from
2006 through 2010, the federal
government says in its most recent
mandatory annual report to
Parliament on electronic surveillance.
Tabled quietly in the Commons just
before MPs fled for the summer
recess, the 2010 report indicates that
the most frequently requested, and
granted, authorizations were for audio
eavesdropping. In 2010 there were at
least 60 such new warrants granted
(the final number won’t be available
until next year’s report). There were
397 “telecommunication”
interceptions in 2010 under the
warrants granted or renewed and 58
“microphone interceptions.”
Chiefly speaking Down Under
and “produce a result that is con-
trary to the fundamental object-
ive of access to justice.” And it “is
inconceivable that the total
amounts claimed are justifiable.”
for a comment.
We want to hear from you!
Email us at: tlw@lexisnexis.ca
CONTENTS
NEWS
EX-SPOUSES DON’T owe fiduciary
duty beyond contract ...................1
MEDIATE393: NEW family
mediation program in Toronto .... 11
COURT RULES surrogate mom
isn’t child’s ‘mother’.....................1
Aboriginal Law
THE DEBATE over Indian Act
reform ........................................ 14
JUDGE BLASTS lawyer over
her fees........................................2
THE EVOLVING interpretation of s.
87 of the Indian Act ................... 14
RURAL EDUCATION fund lives to
see another day ...........................2
KEEWATIN RAISES questions over
infringement of treaty rights....... 15
WHY BC needs a special court to
prosecute rioters.......................... 3
BUSINESS & CAREERS
LINE BETWEEN law, drama ........ 4
THE 24: Canada’s top legal social
media influencers....................... 22
Speaking with Radio Australia
Sept. 13, Chief Justice of Canada
Beverley McLachlin predicted the
threat of terrorism, and the resulting
tug between security and civil
liberties, will be a challenge for the
foreseeable future.
“The big challenge, it seems to
me, is to recognize...that terrorism is
an ongoing thing, it seems to me,
anyway, that we are going to have to
deal with it on a permanent basis,
and secondly, that being the case, to
find a way that we can combat
terrorism and maintain security for
society, while maintaining our values
and the rule of law,” she said. “And
this is, to me, an imperative thing to
do, because we don’t want to lose
the things we value most in our
society. We don’t want to become
undemocratic, an illegal society
simply because we’re terrified. We
have to keep our emphasis on rights
and our values.”
The chief justice was in Canberra
to deliver a keynote lecture Sept. 9 to
the Australian National University on
“Anti-terrorism, The Judiciary and The
Rule of Law.”
BC LAWYERS overlook mentoring
for credit ...................................... 7
ARE LAWYERS too rude? ......... 23
FEDS PREPARE to beef up
Anti-terrorism Act ....................... 27
JOE GROIA incivility case.......... 24
YOUNG LAWYERS’ job hunt ..... 25
OPINION
JEFFREY MILLER....................... 5
are still in those communities.
She said the issue dates back to
2001 when the society noted the
beginnings of a shortage of lawyers outside B.C.’s Vancouver,
Victoria and New Westminster
metropolitan areas.
Established with $795,000
from the Law Foundation of
B.C. (LFBC) for its first three
years, REAL found itself without funding for 2012 and beyond
as LFBC could not continue its
support due to the recent financial downturn.
“We shouldn’t see a waste of
the funds the law foundation put
forth for it,” law society president
Gavin Hume commented.
Rural education fund
lives to see another day
JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER
See Rural Page 8
B.C.’s Rural Education and
Access to Lawyers Initiative
(REAL) will continue for 2012
and 2013 after approval Sept. 8
of $150,000 split between the
Law Society of B.C. and the Canadian Bar Association B.C.
Branch (CBABC) for each of the
years.
REAL oversight committee
chair Kerry Simmons told the
B.C. benchers on July 15 that the
project’s aim is to assist smaller
communities facing legal service
shortages by attracting new lawyers while experienced lawyers
Supremely distracting?
JACOB ZIEGEL .......................... 5
FOCUS
RICHES, MCKENZIE & HERBERT LLP
PATENTS, TRADE MARKS, COPYRIGHT, LITIGATION
Family Law
THE VOICE of the child in family
court ............................................ 9
DEPARTMENTS
BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS - PATENT & TRADE MARK AGENTS
SELF-REPRESENTED family law
litigants pose challenges.............. 9
Announcements. . . . . . . . . . . 25
Careers ................. 22
Classified Ads ............ 19
Lawddities............... 11
Legal Briefs...............2
Names in the News......... 4
Weekly Digest............ 18
PAUL HERBER T, B.SC., PHM., R.PH, LL.B., J.D., PH.D.
DAN HITCHCOCK, B.ENG. (ELEC. ENG.), LL.B.
JEFF PERVANAS, B.A.SC. (ENG. SCI.), LL.B.
BOBBY ATHWAL, B.A.SC. (MECH. ENG.), M.A.SC., LL.B., J.D.
BYRON THOM, B.A.SC. (ENG. SCI.), LL.B.
BRAN T LATHAM, B.A.SC. B.SC. (CHEM. ENG.), LL.B.
GARY M. TRAVIS, B.SC. (GEOL.), LL.B.
MICHAEL ADAMS, B.ENG. (MECH. ENG.), B.SC., LL.B.
MICHAEL YUN, B.SC. (BIOCHEM), J.D.
TRADE MARK AGENT MARTA TANDORI CHENG
SASK. CA denies grandparents
access to grandchildren ............. 10
2 BLOOR ST. EAST, SUITE 1800
TORONTO, ONTARIO M4W 3J5
ESTABLISHED 1887
TELEPHONE: (416) 961-5000
FAX: (416) 961-5081
E-MAIL: riches@patents-toronto.com
Supreme Court Selection Panel
member and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler,
his party’s representative on the five-MP panel which is currently vetting
the secret list of candidates for the
top court’s two Ontario vacancies,
told The Lawyers Weekly he does not
want to comment on whether
Conservative MP Bob Dechert should
step down from the panel following
revelations that Dechert sent
amorous emails to a Toronto
correspondent for Xinhua, the
Chinese government-controlled news
agency. “I’ll have to just assume and
trust the fact that he believes that he
did nothing untoward and that he can
do this work without any interference
or distraction in that work,” said
Cotler.
