Law Times

A. NEUMAN ASSOCIATES INC. Forensic Accounting & Damage Quantifi cation Specialists Billions of dollars invested, not a penny lost. Turn Crisis into Opportunity IFAccountant.com (416) 223-5991 ntitled-3 1 $3.55 • Vol. 21, No. 18 5/4/10 2:49:21 PM Inside This Issue 5 Enforcement Powers 6 Persuasive Resolutions 9 Focus On Criminal Law Quote of the week "It's inconceivable that some- one would be completely able to eliminate the possibility of any institutional bias. The province doesn't seem to want to bankroll any kind of large- scale independent investigator. And the police don't seem to be interested in having any- thing of that nature around." — Frank Miller, Windsor lawyer, See New, page 3 Covering Ontario's Legal Scene ntitled-3 1 May 31, 2010 9/28/09 12:30:15 PM Client sues counsel for suing judges But lawyer counterclaims, alleges coverup of judicial corruption BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times litigation tactics and "scurrilous" attacks on the administration of justice is now the subject of a malpractice suit brought by her former client. In a statement of claim currently be- A fore the court, Kim Baryluk, a Winnipeg folk singer, seeks general damages against copyright lawyer Kimberly Townley-Smith for negligence, breach of contract, breach of trust, and breach of fi duciary duty total- ling $1 million. Th e case came at about the same time an Ontario court ordered Town- ley-Smith to pay $50,000 in costs follow- ing a failed attempt to sue three Superior Court judges for $20 million on Baryluk's behalf. Baryluk claims Townley-Smith launched actions without her consent and left her fac- ing "fi nancial ruin" despite repeated warnings that she "could not aff ord protracted litigation and did not want to be exposed fi nancially." Baryluk says she now suff ers from de- pression, anxiety, and sleeplessness as a re- sult of Townley-Smith's alleged actions and also seeks a further $1 million in punitive and special damages. None of the allegations have been proven in court. "Th e actions of the defendant were callous, high-handed, reckless, and showed a total lack of regard for the interests and well-being of the plaintiff ," the statement of claim alleges. Toronto lawyer who was repri- manded by judges in Ontario and Manitoba for her "high-handed" assessed against her. . . . As Ms. Baryluk said herself, 'Bankruptcy is bankruptcy, I have nothing else to lose.'" Baryluk originally retained Townley- Smith in late 2005 to fi ght the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after dis- tributor Warner Bros. revealed a band with a similar name to her group, the Wyrd Sis- ters, would appear in the fi lm. A failed motion for an injunction re- sulted in a $140,000 costs judgment against Baryluk, at which point she alleges Townley-Smith began acting without her informed consent. According to the state- ment of claim, Townley-Smith should have moved the matter towards trial or settle- ment after the injunction failed. "Instead, it was the defendant's view that Kim Baryluk, pictured outside court in 2005, claims she didn't know about a case against three Ontario judges until the court had already dismissed it. Townley-Smith couldn't be reached for com- ment, but in her statement of defence, she said she always acted on her client's instructions. "At every juncture, Ms. Baryluk chose to go on," Townley-Smith wrote, noting her client was "well aware that any further le- gal action ran the risk of further costs being Warner Bros., their lawyers, virtually every judge involved in the Warner Bros. action, a master, and numerous court staff , both in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Court of Appeal for Ontario, entered into a vast conspiracy that spanned a four-year period and continues to this day," Baryluk claims. Th e allegations go on to paint a picture of a woman on a mission to fi le motions and write letters, leaving behind a trail of losses and costs awards against Baryluk that, in some cases, were shared by Townley-Smith. At one stage, according to the statement of claim, Warner Bros. was forced to retain outside counsel when contempt proceedings were brought against the entertainment giant and its in-house and litigation counsel for al- legedly perjured testimony. When Townley- See Pair, page 2 ployment litigation practice with Paliare Roland Rosenberg Roth- stein LLP in downtown Toronto. But three nights a week un- til the middle of June, you'll fi nd him dancing, leaping, and shuffl ing across the fl oor of the Nightwood Th eatre studio in the Distillery District. In a large room on the third fl oor of the cannery building, with little more than the removal of his tie and the addition of a bowler hat, Kastner is transformed into Bottom, a central character in Th e Lawyer Show, a version of William Lawyers get a taste of the limelight D BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times anny Kastner spends his days in court and in the offi ce, building his em- Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set in the late 1950s. Th e show, a fundraiser for Nightwood, features 28 legal professionals who will take to the stage for three performances on June 11 and 12 at the Berke- ley Street Th eatre. Kastner and his colleagues have been hard at work rehears- ing and learning lines since April after landing their roles through auditions held in March. Th e in- tensive three-hour rehearsals have cut down on family time at home with his two young children, but when his costume is ready, Kast- ner is certain it will make up for his absence. "I do have to placate them by saying that you're not going to see Daddy much but eventually I'll be dressed as a donkey, and that'll make all things better," he says. For Kastner, the play came along at a perfect time. "I'm someone who used to do some acting at school, was dying to get back into it but thought it would be impossible until I was 60 years old and ran my own practice," he says. He sees Th e Lawyer Show as a chance to impress his family, many of whom make their living in the entertainment industry as actors, producers, and fi lmmakers. "I was actually the black sheep going into law," he says. "In a way, this is me just trying to gain acceptance within my family." Some of the performance genes must have been passed on because Kastner has made an impression on Cathy Milne, who has just set up a new practice at Turnpenney Milne LLP. "I don't know what kind of a lawyer he is but he's a great actor," she says. "He sure makes a great ass." Sitting outside of a Night- wood storeroom below the stu- dio that's doubling as a dressing room, Milne says the commit- ment, as well as the quality, of the cast have impressed her. Her own commute to rehearsals from work consists of a two-min- ute walk across a park, but others make the trek from suburbs as far away as Mississauga and Vaughan. Milne is a couple of minutes early for her strictly timed cos- tume fi tting in which she'll dress for the fi rst time as Dandelion, See Litigators, page 2 THERE IS A DIFFERENCE RainMaker Group 110 Yonge Street, Suite 1101 Toronto, Ontario M5C 1T4 Untitled-5 1 Tel: 416-863-9543 Fax: 416-863-9757 www.rainmakergroup.ca www.lawtimesnews.com 3/23/10 11:35:15 AM Click here to subscribe today to LAW TIMES Photo:Toronto Star/GetStock.com

• Cover
• Enforcement Powers
• Persuasive Resolutions
• Focus On Criminal Law