Law Times

Page 2 May 11, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS Cases involving $2M in fees show how family law costs can spiral By yamri Taddese Law Times couple of recent cases show how quickly family law costs can get out of control when liti- gants come armed with a deep well of cash and resentment, lawyers say. "If you have the resources and you're angry, you may pay a very significant price," says family lawyer Philip Epstein. Epstein's comments follow two recent rulings in family law matters that saw liti- gants spending about $2 million in legal and expert costs. In one case, Blatherwick v. Blather- wick, a divorced couple litigated for four years and spent $2 million on legal and expert fees to determine a financial ques- tion about the husband's earnings. In another case, M. v. F, the parties, one of whom is a lawyer, spent about $1 million each arguing about their child's sleepover arrangements. "The entire case has been plagued with either no financial production of relevant documents or very selective pro- duction by Mr. Blatherwick," wrote Supe- rior Court Justice Leonard Ricchetti in Blatherwick. Instead, Brian Blatherwick, who op- erates a Halloween costume business, engaged in a "catch me if you can" game where he hid assets and didn't produce re- quired documents, according to Ricchetti. Blatherwick also admitted he and his partners at the Seasons Halloween Busi- ness form a "brotherhood of trust" that "looks after each other," according to the ruling. "Blatherwick admitted that the 'brotherhood of trust' comes to the rescue when one of the 'brotherhood' is involved in a matrimonial dispute. He and his part- ners met and agreed to assist Mr. Blather- wick in this matrimonial litigation to pro- tect the Seasons Halloween Business from Mrs. Blatherwick," wrote Ricchetti. "Mr. Blatherwick admitted several examples as to how this brotherhood of trust has operated in the past. In the first example, he helped one of his partners re- ceive money from the Seasons Halloween Business in a manner to avoid the part- ner's wife knowing about the monies paid to the partner." In what the judge called "another shocking example," one of the partners delivered money to one of Blatherwick's former fiancées so she wouldn't speak with investigators working for his ex- wife. "The suggestion by Mr. Blatherwick that his 'brotherhood of trust' would not go so far as to commit perjury was laugh- able given the obvious false statements he made in affidavits under oath and evidence given during trial," wrote Ric- chetti, who ordered Blatherwick to make a lump-sum spousal support payment of $6 million and an equalization payment of $3.6 million. The case is an example of what former Ontario chief justice Warren Winkler meant when he lamented that family law had become little more than manipula- tion and delay, says family lawyer Bill Rogers. "The law itself is pretty simple and straightforward. Therefore, manipula- tion and delay are the only weapons left. And clients with long-term hard feelings will use them. [The] problem is it won't make the hard feelings go away," says Rogers. "In family law, you get more hard feel- ings than any other area," he adds. "It's obvious why." Epstein agrees family law attracts peo- ple who are in a "great deal of pain" and who, having refused to accept the con- sequences of separation, try to play out their feelings in the legal process. But Ep- stein calls cases like Blatherwick and M. v. F "significant exceptions" to the norm. "No normal person has the means to be able to fund this kind of litigation," he says. "At some point, one has to recognize that costs can get quickly out of control." According to the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in M. v. F., the termi- nology the courts use in family law may be a factor as well. "For over twenty years, multi-disci- plinary professionals have been urging the courts to move away from the highly charged terminology of 'custody' and 'ac- cess.' These words denote that there are winners and losers when it comes to chil- dren," wrote Justice Mary Lou Benotto. "They promote an adversarial ap- proach to parenting and do little to ben- efit the child. The danger of this 'winner/ loser syndrome' in child custody battles has long been recognized." The appeal court instead endorsed the idea of a parenting plan in order to take out the sting of losing custody. Family law costs have been rising be- cause the rules require a great deal of pa- perwork, says Epstein, who notes many people are looking for alternatives to liti- gation in order to keep the fees down. Rogers says that after years of prac- tising family law, he has seen too many cases where people technically lose even if they've won their cases because they've spent too much money litigating the is- sues. He says that's precisely the reason he's now venturing into mediation work. "I got out of it. I can't deal with it any- more," says Rogers of family law practice. Some of the fault in these cases lies with lawyers who will fight a losing battle as they charge hourly rates, he adds. In his view, family lawyers should bill accord- ing to the results rather than time spent on matters. "It's wrong to take $100,000 from somebody and not get them anywhere," he says. LT law.utoronto.ca/ExecutiveLLM GPLLM Global Professional Master of Laws [Get a Master of Laws] Because business issues are legal issues. So if you want to get ahead in business, get the degree that gets you there faster. ONE YEAR – PART - TIME – NO THESIS – FOR L AWYERS AND NON - LAWYERS Untitled-8 1 2015-03-02 11:15 AM A 'In family law, you get more hard feelings than any other area,' says Bill Rogers.

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