Law Times

PAGE 16 Enabling Lawyers through Technology Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com www The Inside Story ABCP PLAN STALLED The group charged with restruc- turing third-party asset-backed commercial paper has announced that it won't be able to complete the transaction as it hoped by the end of October. "The committee, its advisors report also offers the council's findings on 21 complaint files carried over from previous years. According to a letter from and I are committed, as we have been throughout, to implement the restructuring at the earliest possible date," said Pan-Canadian Investors Committee chairman Purdy Crawford in a release. "We continue to work with the plan participants and major stakeholders to finalize the docu- mentation and move forward with the closing process and we expect that the restructuring plan will be completed by the end of November." The group said the completion of the transaction has dragged on longer than expected due to the large number of participants, complexity of documentation, and the recent uncertainty within global financial markets. FMC HANDS OUT BBPA AWARD First-year Osgoode Hall Law School student Faustina Otch- ere has received the Fraser Mil- ner Casgrain LLP-sponsored Black Business & Professional Association national scholar- ship for black students. "We're thrilled to partner with the BBPA in their recog- nition of academic excellence and achievement in the black community," said FMC diver- sity committee co-chairwoman Kate Broer in a release. "FMC recognizes the importance of diversity in the workplace and we are happy to invest in and support the next generation of young professionals." Otchere graduated with an un- dergraduate honours degree from York University's Faculty of Sci- ence and Engineering. She was born in Ghana, West Africa, and immigrated to Canada in 1995 at 11 years of age. OJC ISSUES ANNUAL REPORT The Ontario Judicial Council recently issued its 12th annual report, outlining the results of 32 complaints it fielded from April 1, 2006, to March 31, 2007. The OJC registrar Marilyn King, of the 53 complaints the coun- cil handled over the term, 30 were closed before March 31, 2007, leaving the council with 23 complaints to deal with in its 13th year. King said 28 of the 30 complaint files the council han- dled over year 12 were closed — three because they were outside the council's jurisdiction, and 25 after it was ruled they were unfounded. One file the council dealt with THIEF FOUND NUDE IN CHIMNEY LONDON — A 22-year- old would-be-thief had to be rescued after getting himself trapped in the chimney of a Tesco supermarket. It also seems that during his struggle to extricate himself, the only thing he managed to get out of were his clothes. When Greater Manchester OctOber 27, 2008 • Law times Bizarre Briefs By Viola James average Bambi offering. The porn played on for a few minutes until the driver re- sponded to the screams of hor- ror from parents on the bus. The school is now suing the bus company, according to the Courthouse News Service. The lawsuit claims: "As Police found the man at about 5:30 a.m., he was sans pants, so to speak. The fire department in the northern English town of Pemberton was called to help get him out of his com- promising position. Police say the suspect was hospitalized as a precaution but has since been discharged and arrested. over the recent term was referred to former chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice Brian Lennox to speak with the judge in question, said King. One other file, involving a complaint against Justice Marvin Morten, was closed following a public hearing in which the panel dismissed the complaint, she said. COURT REJECTS KYOTO LAWSUIT The Federal Court recently ruled that courts can't settle a lawsuit against the government of Canada in relation to the Kyo- to Protocol Implementation Act, a move one lawyer involved in the case called "distressing." "If we can't turn to the courts to ensure that the laws of the land are upheld, I fear our gov- ernment will continue to drift towards unaccountability on climate change and other issues Canadians care deeply about," said Ecojustice lawyer Hugh Wilkins in a release. June for Friends of the Earth Canada by pro bono lawyers from Paliare Roland Barristers and Ecojustice. Friends of the Earth wanted a court declaration that the government failed to meet le- gal requirements of the KPIA by missing deadlines and failing to publish regulations. "The court has sent a message that the government can pick and choose which laws to obey," said lawyer Chris Paliare. "We will un- doubtedly be considering further legal action to ensure that the gov- ernment is held accountable." The lawsuit was launched in LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com "They call him the Kid. He got life. He played Chopsticks on the piano. For Stephen Harper. After the election." For more information call: Rose Noonan 905-726-5444 www.lawtimesnews.com Untitled-2 1 10/23/08 3:13:34 PM LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE, FOR SURE JERSEY CITY, N.J. — One might wonder what bus drivers do while they sit around wait- ing for the passengers they're ferrying about to be done with their activities. Well, one driver in New Jersey apparently watched hardcore porn in the time be- tween dropping off a bunch of preschoolers at the Land of Make Believe and then taking them home again. The Alcorr Transit driver should have replaced the video on the bus with something a little tamer for his passengers but plumb forgot. When the video for their ride home from the park started up, it was a bit more hardcore than the a result of this incident, nu- merous parents removed their children from plaintiff's preschool, causing plaintiff a severe loss of income. Fur- ther, as a result of word of the incident spreading through- out the community, plaintiff suffered numerous cancella- tions in its enrolment and a great decrease in the number of applications for future en- rolment, resulting in a severe loss of income." DAD GETS LAZY SON JAILED LAGOS, Nigeria — Not hap- py with his son's general use- lessness, Sama'ila Tahir took him to court, asking that he be jailed. Tahir told an Islamic court in northern Nigeria that his 20-year-old progeny is idle and lazy. He asked that the boy be sent to prison for refusing to engage in productive activities, reports news agency NAN. He claimed his son won't go to school and is probably part of a criminal gang. "He is not listening to words and he is bringing shame to my family. I am tired of his nefarious deeds. Please put this boy in prison so that I can be free," Tahir, a market trader in the town of Bauchi, told the court. The court sentenced the son to six months in prison and 30 strokes of the cane — the sting of which he felt right there and then — for being disobedient to his parents, re- ports NAN. LIFE'S A BEACH — IF YOU CAN FIND IT KINGSTON, Jamaica — It's been three months and police still can't find the beach. That's the beach from a planned resort at Coral Spring beach in the town of Trelawny, where in July thieves made off with hundreds of tonnes of sand, enough to fill 500 trucks. Police say the sand may have been sold off to rival resorts. "It's a very complex inves- tigation because it involves so many aspects," Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner for crime at the Jamaica Constab- ulary Force, told the BBC. "You've got the receivers of the stolen sand, or what we be- lieve to be the sand, the trucks themselves, the organizers and, of course, there is some suspi- cion that some police were in collusion with the movers of the sand." The theft has also spurred a political row with Prime Min- ister Bruce Golding taking a special interest in the case and the opposition parties alleging a cover-up involving develop- ers and others. Police are testing other beaches for traces of the miss- ing sand, and local media re- ported that some of the sand had been located on beaches on the northern coast. So far there have been no arrests. Seen, heard, or been involved in a bizarre brief? Tell Viola James about it at viola.james@gmail. com. LT Confidential

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