Law Times

PAGE 16 The Inside Story $200K COSTS ORDER IN LIBEL SUIT A judge has ordered shareholder activist Robert Verdun to pay Bank of Montreal director Rob- ert Astley $216,000 in costs for an 11-day defamation trial. Th at's in addition to the $650,000 in damages already awarded to Astley by a jury who found Verdun had acted with malice when he defamed him in a long-running cam- paign to stop his appointment to the bank's board. "It is time for this vitriolic campaign to end," wrote On- tario Superior Court Justice Sandra Chapnik in her June 14 costs decision that also im- posed a permanent injunction on Verdun from making public statements about Astley. Verdun said he was the one entitled to costs, claiming $2 million for the alleged miscon- duct of his opposing counsel. But Chapnik dismissed those claims as without merit. She said permanent injunc- tions should only be granted in "the clearest and rarest of cases" but ruled this was one of those matters. Verdun, she noted, had planned to publish a book on Ast- ley that claimed he was a "white- collar criminal who should be jailed for fraud and sentenced to 14 years in prison" and was likely to continue his campaign unless the court imposed an injunction. Verdun must also remove blog postings that refer directly or in- directly to Astley. NEW PARTNER AT FASKENS Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP has picked up corporate lawyer Sunny Sodhi from To- rys LLP. Sodhi, who has strong ties to India, becomes a partner in the fi rm's Asia Pacifi c, fi nancial insti- tutions, and corporate commer- cial practice groups. "We are pleased to welcome Sunny into our ranks. He has a great deal of knowledge of Asian markets and is a skilled corporate lawyer with specifi c expertise in banking regulation. He's a great addition to our team," said Mar- tin Denyes, Faskens' regional managing partner for Ontario. WEIRFOULDS LAWYER HONOURED BY OBA WeirFoulds LLP partner Bradley McLellan is to receive the Ontario Bar Association's 2011 Award of Excellence in Real Estate on June 21. Th e award recognizes ex- ceptional contributions and achievements in real estate law by members of the OBA for teaching, lecturing, schol- arly writing, lobbying, and en- hancement in that area of law. McLellan heads the fi rm's commercial real estate practice group. He's also recognized as an expert in the purchase, sale, and fi nancing of commercial real estate. DAVIS LLP MOVING UP Davis LLP offi cially unveiled its new offi ce space on the 60th fl oor of First Canadian Place in Toronto at an event on June 9 after vacating its old digs a few fl oors below. "We're very excited about the move," says Samuel Schwartz, managing partner of the To- ronto offi ce. He says Davis was burst- ing at the seams with only a partial fl oor to its name. Now with the entire 60th fl oor and part of the 59th fl oor as well, the fi rm has the room to carry out a planned expansion as it increases its focus on Toronto. Over the next few years, he ex- pects the Ontario offi ce, which currently has about 40 lawyers, to match the Vancouver total of closer to 100. While most Canadian fi rms are looking West for growth, Da- vis is making the opposite move. "I think we bring a diff erent way of thinking," says Edmon- ton-based national managing partner Robert Seidel. While competition in Can- ada's fi nancial centre is tough, Seidel says he's confi dent. "We're not going to come here and push the Seven Sis- ters off the puck," he says. "But what we've got to do is see where the puck is going." THOMSON ROGERS TURNS 75 Th omson Rogers celebrated its 75th anniversary on June 7 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Per- forming Arts. To commemorate the occasion, the Toronto fi rm's managing partner, Alan Farrer, along with Douglas Goudie, Kenneth Howie, and Lawrence Mandel, presented a donation of $75,000 to Law Society of Upper Canada CEO Malcolm Heins to benefi t the Lawyers Feed the Hungry program. For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com. SPYWARE TRACKS NAKED WOMEN FULLERTON, Calif. — A 20-year-old California man has been arrested over accusa- tions of planting spyware on dozens of computers to se- cretly photograph women in a state of undress, police said. Trevor Harwell was taken into custody at his home in Ful- lerton, where detectives found hundreds of thousands of pic- tures on his computer, Fuller- ton police spokesman Sgt. An- drew Goodrich said. Harwell is accused of in- stalling the program, which gave him remote access to the user's computer and webcam, while working as a technician for a local computer repair company, Goodrich said. "Once he had access, he would take photographs of the users, usually women. Often, the female victims were undressed or changing clothes," Goodrich said. Police say they began inves- tigating Harwell after a Fuller- ton resident contacted authori- ties over a suspicious message on his daughter's computer. Th e message mimicked a system error advising her of a problem with an "internal sensor" and advised: "If un- sure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor." Goodrich said many us- ers who got a similar message June 20, 2011 • Law Times Bizarre Briefs By Viola James took their laptops into the bathroom while they show- ered, where Harwell allegedly photographed them undress- ing or naked. — Reuters BILLBOARD SLAMS WOMAN'S ABORTION SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico man who said he was upset that his girlfriend had an abortion bought a highway billboard and accused her of killing their child. Th e billboard shows 35- year old Greg Fultz holding the outline of a baby in his arms. It reads, "Th is Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-month Old Baby If Th e Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!" Fultz' ex-girlfriend calls the billboard harassment and invasion of privacy and has taken him to court. But Fultz says he's exercising his First Amendment rights, said his attorney, Todd Holmes. "Citizens have the right to express their speech through any media and he chose a billboard," Holmes told Re- uters. A petition fi led by Fultz' ex-girlfriend said that Fultz had a pattern of stalking and harassment, including posting "intimate cyber shots of me from one of our cyber dates," she wrote. Th e domestic abuse petition also requested that the billboard be removed and online harassment stopped. Fultz had the billboard put up in mid-May. In a hearing last week, a judge ordered the billboard to come down by mid-June. — Reuters ATHEISTS SUE OVER GOD-FREE ADS LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A coalition of atheists is accus- ing Little Rock's city bus line of violating their rights to free speech in a fi ght to place ads on public buses praising a God-free lifestyle. Th e Central Arkansas Co- alition of Reason alleged in a lawsuit that the Central Ar- kansas Transit Authority and its advertising agency are dis- criminating against the group because it's being required to pay tens of thousands of dol- lars to put $5,000 worth of ads on 18 buses. Th e ads would read: "Are you good without God? Mil- lions are." Other groups, including churches, have not been re- quired to pay the fee, which amounts to $36,000 in insur- ance in case of an attack on the buses by angry Christians, according to the lawsuit. Th e insurance was requested by the transit agency's advertis- ing fi rm, On Th e Move Adver- tising, offi cials said. Because a handful of simi- lar ads had been vandalized in other states, the ad agency re- quired the payment for insur- ance reasons, said Jess Sweere, an attorney representing the transit authority. "We were planning to run the ads as soon as the contract was worked out," Sweere told Reuters. — Reuters LT "The legal department fi gures the most cost-effective protective headgear is a personal injury lawyer." Recruiting? Post your position on GREAT RATES. GREAT REACH. GREAT RESULTS. Contact Sandy Shutt at sandra.shutt@thomsonreuters.com for details. www.lawtimesnews.com JobsInLaw 1-8 pg 5X.indd 1 2/15/11 4:12:27 PM

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