Law Times

lAw Times • April 7, 2014 Page 5 www.lawtimesnews.com Peter, a Second World War veteran, had died in 1999 and Trevor passed away in 2007. Heather is alive but has Alzheim- er's disease and "doesn't even remember her name," says Nguyen. Before Trevor died, he was a profes- sor at a university in Virginia. Nguyen found a phone number for his widow, Shirley, and called to deliver the sur- prising news that she owned a laneway in Mississauga. A surprised Shirley put Nguyen in touch with her son, Derek, to deal with the legal ramifications. "Just imagine you're working one day you get a call and [someone says], 'By the way, your grandmother who passed away God knows when owned a laneway and whether you like it or not, you technically own it.'" Derek, who lives in St. Catharines, Ont., "was completely in shock," says Nguyen, adding it appears Glatt's Lane was part of a tract of land Char- lotte Hill had owned and that aer selling strips of it, she simply forgot to sell the laneway as well. In the end, Glatt's Lane residents purchased their street for "a four- digit amount," says Nguyen. ey formed a non-profit corporation to buy the land as it would be difficult to own Glatt's Lane individually. For one thing, sole ownership would make one person entirely liable for something like a slip-and-fall lawsuit. ere were other considerations as well. "We did not want the crazy situation that we had found ourselves in to happen again for possible future homeowners if, for instance, one of us were to hold title," says Nguyen. "In the case of a not-for-profit cor- poration owning the lane, if the cor- poration was to somehow dissolve or discontinue, the laneway would legally escheat to the Crown." Nguyen scoured the courts and found Hill's will. It named a company now owned by Scotiabank as an ex- ecutor. "He thought at some point maybe I can deal with the executor rather than deal with the beneficiaries, but we both came to the conclusion that Scotia wouldn't do anything until they knew who the heirs were so they could get consent from the heirs," says Silverstein. Silverstein says Nguyen's odyssey underscores a few problems with the system. Although the government has done work to convert all prop- erties from the registry to the land- titles system, there are "thousands" of parcels of land still listed under the older registry records, he says. "Eventually, these things have to be cleaned up. ere's lots of these," Silverstein adds, noting not every- one will be as successful as Nguyen in tracking down the information on their own. In addition, unlike jurisdictions such as Quebec, Ontario doesn't have a wills registry system. "If you want to find out if there is an execu- tor, you've got to search every county," says Silverstein. "ere isn't a central- ized database." Incidents like the Glatt's Lane mat- ter are rare but they do happen, Sil- verstein notes. Last week, Enersource workers were at Glatt's Lane replacing the rotten hydro poles. In the meantime, the le- gal quagmire has brought the laneway's residents to- gether, says Nguyen. Even with a lawyer in the neighbourhood, it was a complex journey, but Nguy- en says he's grateful for the historic discoveries he made along the way. In a letter to the Hill beneficiaries, he said he was "truly honoured that fate, through a laneway, en- abled me to brush shoulders with this remarkable family." Should he ever need a private investigator, Sil- verstein says Nguyen is his choice. "He did a yeoman's job." LT It is a very competitive business," says Stover. She ran as a candidate for law society bencher and is pushing for a requirement for more substantive legal training for paralegals. In the notice issued against Zappia by the law society on March 10, it alleges that contrary to the paralegal rules of conduct, his advertising related to services and fees in 2013 was "mis- leading" and "failed to advise that he charges a non-refundable fee to every client." As well, the advertising suggested "he offers the 'we win or it's free' option to every client, when this offer is not made to all clients and in any event when this offer should not be offered to clients requesting criminal law services," the law society alleges. Zappia tells Law Times he believes his ad- vertising complies with the rules for parale- gals. "I know that this is going to be resolved," says Zappia, who points to the disclaimers ac- cessible on the bottom right-hand corner of the main page on his web site. It includes four separate disclaimers. "Please note that every client pays an upfront non-re- fundable disbursement fee for services rendered upon the initial retainer," says one disclaimer. "Our fee guarantee is that if we do not do exactly as directed by our clients in our contract, you will receive a refund of all mon- ies," reads another. Frank Alfano, a paralegal in southern On- tario, says he would welcome more scrutiny of advertising and notes he has communicated with the law society about what appears on his web sites, including the fact he teaches advanced paralegal courses in criminal law and founded the Ontario Provincial Offences Advocacy Group in 2007. A firm co-founded by Alfano, who was a candidate for bencher, has accreditation to conduct two continuing professional devel- opment courses for paralegals, according to the law society. Alfano says he uses the term "advanced" because a criminal law course he teaches is "like the Reader's Digest version" of what people learn in law school. e paralegal advocacy group has a Facebook and LinkedIn page but doesn't appear to have much recent activity. "It is still in its infancy," he says. Alfano, one of the principals of Traffic Tick- et Paralegal, was convicted in February of the Highway Traffic Act offence of driving while suspended for unpaid fines. A justice of the peace rejected Alfano's assertion that police had unfairly targeted him when they stopped him outside a courthouse in Burlington, Ont. Alfano says he contacted the LSUC and was told he didn't need to disclose this conviction when he was running as a candidate for one the bencher positions reserved for paralegals in the recent elections. As well, Alfano tells Law Times he intends to challenge his most recent conviction and seek a stay of proceedings at the sentencing hearing scheduled for June. LT Ads compliant, says Zappia NEWS DRAWING THE LINE: Using the Surveyor as Expert Witness The half-day workshop to be held Friday, April 25, 2014 at the Delta Guelph Hotel & Conference Centre will build on the e-learning course material with mock hearings, practical demonstrations and discussions addressing: x the qualification of an expert; x the cross-examination of an expert for impartiality; x the specific skill sets held by surveyors; and x ethical obligations. The fee for 3 months of online access to material and the recording is $475 plus HST. Register at 4pointlearning.ca. The workshop has been accredited by for 0.75 Professionalism hour and 3.25 Substantive hours. 4Point_LT_Mar10_14.indd 1 14-03-04 6:15 PM Continued from page 1 Continued from page 1 Heir 'in shock' to get call Flip Your Wig raises $40,000 Campaign delivers fun, awareness, collaboration he Flip Your Wig for Justice campaign raised almost $40,000 for law organizations in Ontar- io, organizers say. e campaign, the first of its kind in On- tario, asked members of the legal profession and the public to wear wigs on March 6 to raise awareness about the lack of access to justice and raise funds for law organizations. By flipping wigs, the campaign sought to demand action to increase access to justice while having fun in the process. About 436 individuals made dona- tions, according to Sarah McCoubrey, executive director of the Ontario Justice Education Network. Her organization was one of the seven non-profit groups that put the campaign together. McCoubrey says that on March 6, she explained to strangers everywhere why she was wearing a wig and enjoyed looking at photos posted on social media of others doing the same. Among the participants in the campaign were seven law firms: Dentons Canada LLP, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, McCarthy Té- trault LLP, and WeirFoulds LLP. According to McCoubrey, the highest amount earned by an individual was $2,442 while the top sum raised by a group was $6,524. e donations will go to her organization, Pro Bono Law Ontario, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, Community Legal Education Ontario, the Metropolitan Action Commit- tee on Violence Against Women and Chil- dren, and Pro Bono Students Canada. "We didn't know what to expect really. . . . Generally, a collaborative fundraising isn't very common," says McCoubrey. "It's really been a learning curve and one that's been exciting enough that we're look- ing forward to sitting down and figuring out what we should build on in the future." e level of participation was surprising, especially for a first campaign, says McCoubrey. e cam- paign was part of a larger focus among Ontario's law organiza- tions to collaborate more on access to justice issues. According to McCoubrey, part of the success of the cam- paign has been the collabora- tion between organizations that oen work in silos. "We're really seeing an alignment of our work to build access to justice initiatives across Ontario and to remind the justice sector that we are that justice system arm that's reaching out to the community and con- necting with people," she says. Osgoode Hall Law School dean Lorne Sossin, a participant in the event, echoes that sentiment. e participating law orga- nizations are in many ways "the front lines" of the justice system, he says. LT BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times T Sarah McCoubrey, left, and Lorne Sossin participated in the Flip Your Wig for Justice event last month.

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