Law Times

PAGE 20 sepTember 27, 2010 • Law Times The 40,000 tickets featur- Bizarre #1 Power House application for real estate. www.doprocess.com ntitled-2 1 The TORONTO CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE ELDER LAW Registration has opened for the fifth annual Canadian Confer- ence on Elder Law. The event takes place in To- ronto from Oct. 29-30 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. The theme will focus on developing an an- ti-ageist approach to the law. Canadian and international experts will gather for the event hosted by the Canadian Cen- tre for Elder Law and the Law Commission of Ontario with support from the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly. The pre-conference held by the World Study Group on El- der Law will take place on Oct. 28 and will provide an oppor- tunity for scholars in this area to present research updates and new work in the field. NEW HIRE AT FMC David Hunter has joined Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP as counsel with the firm's aboriginal, envi- ronmental, and mining groups. Hunter brings with him more than 25 years of regulatory ex- perience representing First Na- tions, resource companies, and various levels of government and will provide strategic counsel on aboriginal, environmental, and mining issues. "David has a strong track record in the Canadian legal community and will be a wel- come addition to our mining practice," said Sander Grieve, national co-chairman of FMC's mining group. WEB SITE SUCCEEDS IN ARGUING NEW DEFENCE A Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., news web site has successfully defend- ed a libel action using the new responsible journalism defence. SooToday.com reports that the Ontario Superior Court of Jus- tice has dismissed a suit brought by a former Toronto chartered accountant who claimed he was defamed by a Sault Ste. Marie police fraud alert reported by the web site. The jury found the police alert about Kofi Hadjor, who was 9/22/10 10:12:01 AM Inside Story convicted of fraud 10 years ago, contained errors but decided they weren't sufficient to injure his rep- utation. Hadjor had planned to buy and renovate a local resort to host education sessions for charity workers at a cost of $3,700 each, according to the web site. SooToday.com said it provid- ed evidence that between 20 and 30 sources were consulted for its subsequent report on the alert and that it had attempted unsuccessfully to reach Hadjor himself. Hadjor's lawyer argued in court that he was a changed man since his convictions and that the fraud alert had scup- pered his dream. The new defence was cre- ated in December by the Su- preme Court of Canada. Su- perior Court Justice Edward Koke noted this was one of the first jury cases to use the defence, according to SooToday.com. BLG BOLSTERS ASSOCIATE RANKS Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has added 23 new lawyers to its Ottawa and Toronto offices. In Ottawa, articling students Dalton McGuinty Jr., Gen- eviève Langlais, and Jacquie El-Chammas have made the transition to associates, while Katherine Sangster has moved from the firm's Calgary office. Alexander Anishchenko also joins as a lawyer and patent agent from Bereskin & Parr LLP in Toronto. In Toronto, 17 people have stepped up from their articles to become associates: Scott Jones, Keri Bedeau, Matthew Furrow, Harriet Greenwood, Jonathan Gutman, Damian Hornich, Bethany Howell, Bruce Karn, Sabrina Kumar, Mark Lau, Paul Sharp, Kal- vin Sie, Sharon Silbert, Jeffrey Spiegel, Sarah Stiner, Nicole Westlake, and Saba Zadeh. Meanwhile, Robert Wood has made the move to BLG after articling at McMillan LLP in Toronto. LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com. "Using the new amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the court reassigned the lease." TEENS TO HELP COPS SPY ON PUBS DUBLIN, Ireland — Irish po- lice are recruiting youths into undercover law enforcement in a bid to enforce the coun- try's liquor rules. The goal is to crack down on teenage binge drinking by sending youths into pubs to see if businesses are obeying li- quor rules that prohibit selling alcohol to anyone under 18. "I want to stress that the ob- jective of the scheme is to ascer- tain whether a licensee is com- plying with the law, not to trap an unwary licensee into com- mitting an offence," said Justice Minister Dermot Ahern. According to Reuters, the scheme, which begins Oct. 1, will allow police to seek par- ents' authority for teens aged 15-17 to train for the program and enter the pubs. Viola- tors will face fines or closure for a period. Ahern noted the government would cancel the program if the teens face any threats to safety. "The test purchaser must answer all questions about their age truthfully," he said. Of course, in a country with such a storied drinking culture, it's unclear how many teens will sign up for the program. LAWSUIT CHALLENGES TOWN'S CIVILITY RULES EAST HANOVER TOWN- SHIP, Pa. — A local man has launched a lawsuit over a Briefs By Viola James municipal rule against vulgarity. After David Kliss put up a sign that read "$10,000 To Take a Crap," officials slapped him with a zoning violation alleging he had violated the township's ordinance on vul- garity. At the time, Kliss was protesting a mandated sewer tie-in, The Associated Press reported. Kliss has now responded with a federal lawsuit alleg- ing officials trampled his First Amendment rights. Accord- ing to The Associated Press, the suit claims the zoning rule doesn't adequately define what's vulgar. For his part, Kliss said he covered the last word with paint after officials informed him of the violation. Kliss does have a point, but is civility such a bad thing? YOGA TIPS FOR PARKING VIOLATORS CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — If you're upset by that parking ticket, city officials in Cam- bridge want to help you out. Now, when you flip over the ticket, you'll find informa- tion on how to do a few yoga positions, the Boston Herald reported. "I think it's trying to debunk the idea that all park- ing tickets are a hostile action, because I don't think they are," said city transportation chief Susan Clippinger. "We're not writing tickets to get somebody. We're writing tickets to help make the city function." ing yoga poses are part of a public art project by artist-in- residence Daniel Peltz, who envisions "a reflection on a social situation, the human experience of giving and re- ceiving parking tickets." So far, Clippinger says the new tickets are prompting mixed feelings by the city's parking enforcement officers, some of whom believe they will help while others fear they will make things even worse. Drivers, too, aren't neces- sarily buying it. "I don't like it. There's no way to like it," said Hyunho Noh. UNDERWEAR PROTEST NETS $10,000 PAYMENT BOULDER, Colo. — A man prosecuted for appearing be- fore Boulder city council in his underwear will receive $10,000 in exchange for not filing a lawsuit. Last February, Seth Brigham made the appearance in his boxer shorts in a bid to make his point about a proposal to criminalize nudity, The Associ- ated Press reported. He was later arrested for trespassing and obstructing police. The charges were later dropped, but that didn't end the matter. Now the city has agreed to pay the $10,000 in exchange for settling Brigham's civil rights claim. Attorney David Lane said Brigham had accepted the deal last week, according to The Associated Press. LT Seen, heard, or been involved in a bizarre brief? Tell Viola James about it at viola.james@gmail. com. Untitled-1 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 9/23/10 10:58:44 AM

• Cover
• Libel Woes
• Legal Circus
• Focus On Business/Competition Law