Law Times

Page 16 August 18, 2014 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com PURDY CRAWFORD MOURNED Canada's legal community is mourn- ing the death of the "dean emeritus of Canada's corporate bar." "He just got it into his mind that the way to build the firm was to build other people — grow a lot of big trees instead of a lot of little trees," said Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP vice chairman Brian Levitt of Purdy Crawford. Crawford, who began his career at Oslers, died aer an illness in Toronto last week at age 82. A leader in corporate and securities law at the firm, he moved to the corporate world in 1985 as head of Imasco Ltd. "is was the beginning of an illustrious career in business, during which Purdy led corporations, sat on the boards of some of Canada's most significant public companies, advised on high-profile matters, chaired committees and important government panels, lectured as a law school professor, and gave freely of his time and expertise to philanthropic causes of importance to him," the firm said. "Purdy was extraordinary in so many respects: widely consid- ered the 'dean emeritus of Canada's corporate bar,' one of Canada's foremost business leaders, thought leader to the Canadian securities industry, and a great philanthropist," the firm said in a tribute. MAN WHO BEAT COPS IN DOUGHNUT CONTEST ARRESTED ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — It appears the dough- nuts and the prospect of beating police officers at eating them were too tempting for a man sus- pected in a couple of crimes who has since found himself under arrest. e sweet victory for the North Carolina man who beat police officers in a doughnut-eating contest soured aer a newspaper story about the win led to his arrest on breaking and entering charges. Bradley Hardison, 24, of Elizabeth City downed eight doughnuts in two minutes during a contest at an anti-crime event hosted by the city's police department, according to a story in the Daily Advance. at report caught the eye of Camden County sheriff 's Lieut. Max Robeson, who said his detec- tives had been trying to interview Hardison for about nine months aer suspecting him in break- ins at two local businesses. Robeson said they brought Hardison in for questioning. "I said, 'Congratulations on your win last night,'" Robeson recalled, before arresting the man on criminal charges of breaking and entering and injury to real property. $21K COURT SETTLEMENT PAID IN LOOSE CHANGE LOS ANGELES — It seems an insurance com- pany wanted to let a legal opponent know what it thought of a court settlement when it sent the money in coins. A California insurer has paid a $21,000 court settlement in more than a dozen buckets of coins to an elderly man who alleged an employee as- saulted him when he tried to buy insurance, the Los Angeles Times reported. It took eight representatives of Rancho Cu- camonga-based Adriana's Insurance to deliver 16 to 18 buckets of hard currency to the lawyer rep- resenting 76-year-old Andres Carrasco, who sued the company in 2012, the Times reported. His attorney, Antonio Gallo, told the news- paper the retired bus driver "feels like he is disre- spected." Carrasco reached a settlement with the com- pany and expected the payment by July 25, but the defendant told Gallo it wouldn't issue a cheque, the Times reported. Gallo, who initially thought the delivery of quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies was a joke, added: "It's unfortunate that a business like that would use some of these tactics." e coins were sent to a bank for counting, the newspaper said. CROSS-DRESSING DRIVER TAKES $200K FROM DRUNK PEOPLE WASHINGTON — Dressing as a woman to take money from drunk people can be a profitable ac- tivity, a recent case has shown. A Maryland man who dressed up as a woman to fleece intoxicated passengers for more than $200,000 while driving a taxi in Washington has pleaded guilty to first-degree felony fraud, accord- ing to the United States attorney's office. Fiy-year-old Nyerere Mitchell, of Clinton, Md., stole bank codes and cards from more than 60 people, oen focusing on young drink- ers, between April 2009 and November 2013, prosecutors said. He was arrested last Novem- ber, Reuters reported. Wearing a disguise of a woman's wig and a padded bra, Mitchell drove a silver Range Rov- er SUV and focused on picking up passengers near popular bar and nightclub areas in Wash- ington, including Dupont Circle, Adams Mor- gan, Foggy Bottom, Chinatown, and Arlington, Va., prosecutors said. Mitchell was charged with five counts of fraud, with each charge carrying a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison. e plea agreement also calls for him to pay $228,036 in restitution. Mitchell will be held in jail until his sentencing on Oct. 10. LT The title insurer that puts you front row, centre Putting the legal community front and centre has made us the #1 choice with Canadian lawyers for over a decade. Stewart Title does not support programs that reduce or eliminate the lawyer's role in real estate transactions. For more information call (888) 667-5151 or visit www.stewart.ca. Untitled-2 1 7/19/11 12:31:45 PM u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story COTLER, FODDEN HONOURED BY CBA e Canadian Bar Association honoured former justice minis- ter Irwin Cotler and blogger Si- mon Fodden with its president's award last week. On Wednesday, the CBA presented the award during its annual legal conference in St. John's. "As a teacher, practitioner, and lawmaker, Irwin Cotler has made significant contributions to how lawyers view law, how law can be used as a vehicle for social change, and how our laws can be improved," said outgoing CBA president Fred Headon of the current Liberal MP. Headon also honoured Fod- den, an academic who helped found Osgoode Hall Law School's program in poverty law at Parkdale Community Legal Services and creator of the Slaw blog. "Not content to just retire aer a long and distinguished ac- ademic career, he showed us how to innovate," said Headon. Slaw "has had a significant impact on the profession, serv- ing as a forum to exchange ideas and to encourage change," he added. e president's award recog- nizes significant contributions to the legal profession, the CBA or public life in Canada. E-FILING PILOT FOR SMALL CLAIMS e Ministry of the Attorney General has launched a pilot project for electronically filing plaintiff claims with the Small Claims Court in select cities. e pilot began last Mon- day for claims filed in Ottawa, Brampton, Oshawa, and Rich- mond Hill, Ont. Under it, plain- tiffs can prepare and file all forms by going to ServiceOntario's online business portal. ey can also obtain default judgment on- line if the defendant doesn't file a defence with the court within 20 days of service. e ministry expects to ex- pand the service across the prov- ince early next year. Currently, only plaintiffs can file claims on- line and they must be for a fixed amount of money related, for example, to a debt owed under a contract. LAWYERS' WORK HOURS ON THE RISE: SURVEY Given the uncertainty in the legal profession, it's perhaps not surprising that lawyers are working longer hours. But according to Robert Half Legal, the numbers should prompt managing partners and general counsel to pay attention to the stress lawyers are under. e survey of 350 lawyers at North American law firms and corpo- rations noted more than half of respondents report working more hours over the last five years. More than a third of lawyers said they work more than 55 hours a week while the median response was 50 hours a week. LT "Me!? Buying sex? Good heavens no! I'm simply considering what the courts have characterized as an invitiation to tender, on the principle initially recognized by the English Court of Appeal in the seminal case of Carbolic Smoke Ball and more recently addressed, at paragraphs 36 to 38, by the Supreme Court of Canada in M.J.B. Enterprises Ltd. v. Defence Consrtruction [1999] SCR619!" Purdy Crawford

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