Law Times

Law Times • November 30, 2009 NEWS Charges include rare witchcraft allegation Continued from page 1 During the reading, he says she claimed to be inhabited by the spirit of his older sister, who was visiting him to guide him to prosperity. "I did not believe that on a literal lev- el but I did believe it on a metaphorical level," Daley says, citing his belief that his deceased loved ones guide him in positive ways. "I accepted that in the framework of my Catholic faith," Daley says. He says he had Persaud work on mi- nor legal assignments for a few months, attributing her need for much guidance to a steep learning curve. Then in May, he says she came to him with a proposal. She allegedly said she had previously run a highly successful marketing firm in downtown Toronto and had been asked by Sony, a previ- ous client, to take on a major project involving the launch of a touch-screen remote-control system. For her work, she said she would be paid $850,000, but her project costs would be no more than $250,000, ac- cording to Daley. The profits would be his, he says. But she allegedly said that to oversee the project, she would need premiere office space with full modern electronic infrastructure. So he claims he leased for her "the most expensive office space in the country" on the 57th floor of First Canadian Place in the heart of the financial district. Daley says Persaud later fell out of fa- vour with the building's management and had to vacate, so he moved her into an office on Charles Street East. He alleges he was soon hemorrhag- ing money for rent, utilities, computers, phones, and salaries to Persaud and her associates. More elaborate business proposals followed, requiring larger and larger cash outlays, Daley claims. Persaud had a plan to represent visit- ing movie stars at the Toronto Interna- tional Film Festival, he says. He would bankroll the security, transportation, hotels, and meals for stars such as Keanu Reeves, Rachel Mc- Adams, Vin Diesel, and Eugene Levy, he says. Daley also claims he gave her about $18,000 for cancer treatments. Then there was money for clothing, gym memberships, and spa treatments, Daley alleges. "All of this was supposed to be so she could represent me in a spectacular fashion." He says he finally realized something was amiss when the celebrities he was supposedly endorsing failed to show up at parties he believed he was paying to host them at. "I didn't want to believe it was a hoax because it meant financial ruin for me," he alleges. Daley then made the difficult de- cision to tell his story to police. "My desire to make an easy buck clouded my judgment." His final price tag was $148,000, he claims. He soon learned about Persaud's pre- vious convictions and then the allega- tions that she defrauded other legal cli- ents, who then got in touch with him. "Once this house of tarot cards came tumbling down, I started to get calls." He says he felt obligated to take care of their legal needs. In addition to the fraud charges, Persaud faces multiple counts of fail- ing to comply as well as the witchcraft charge in relation to the alleged tarot card reading. Fraudulently pretending to exercise witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or con- juration is a summary conviction offence under the Criminal Code. "Very rarely do we get to lay that charge," Jones says. Judges have new tool to punish incivility Continued from page 1 After Groia earned himself a reputation for tough behaviour as a tenacious defence lawyer in white-collar cases, he rep- resented John Felderhof, who faced insider-trading charges in the Bre-X Minerals Ltd. gold- dusting scandal. Eventually, Groia says his fiery rhetoric during the first 70 days of that trial would be held up as the "benchmark for incivility." He accused prosecutors for the Ontario Securities Com- mission of abuse of process and professional misconduct, largely over disclosure issues, and said they were trying to se- cure a conviction of his client "at all costs." During the trial, the OSC moved to have Ontario Court Justice Peter Hryn replaced over claims the judge showed bias in failing to restrain Groia. Ontario Superior Court jus- tice Archie Campbell dismissed the application, a ruling later upheld on appeal, but judges in- volved found little redeemable in Groia's rhetoric. Ontario Court of Appeal Jus- tice Marc Rosenberg declared the lawyer's conduct to be "ap- pallingly unrestrained and on occasion unprofessional." Campbell denounced Groia's "rhetorical tendency to characterize as outrageous pros- ecutorial abuse any position with which he disagrees." But he affirmed Groia's right to make the arguments in the first place. "The fact that he makes his allegations with a nasty bite does not disentitle him to make them," Campbell wrote. He added that "prosecutors need thick skins." Although Groia says his right to behave combatively was essen- tially upheld in both judgments, he now fears the upcoming hear- ing will see the judges' words used against him. Rather than contest the re- provals, he says his approach to the review before Campbell was to argue that his behaviour was irrelevant. "My conduct was directed to- wards defending Mr. Felderhof in the face of what I believed then and I believe now was prosecuto- rial misconduct," Groia says. Further, the OSC cited Groia's behaviour as representing just 20 per cent of its grounds for ap- plying for a judicial replacement and a new trial. By the time the matter got to the appeal court, however, his conduct was virtually the only topic of discussion, he says. The appeal drew an assem- bly of high-powered legal talent, including Paul Cavalluzzo on behalf of the Ontario Crown At- torneys' Association. He argued that principles of courtroom civility should be en- trenched in common law. And he doesn't buy the argu- ment that lawyers require abso- lute freedom in a courtroom to protect the right to raise rhetori- cal arguments. "There's a difference be- tween rhetoric and name-call- ing," Cavalluzzo says. "There are certain lines which can't be crossed; otherwise, it becomes the law of the jungle rather than an adversarial process." Trials can only make effi- cient progress if counsel refrain from bickering and slinging mud, he adds. "That's the only way rea- soned and informed decisions can be made in the adjudica- tive process." According to the law soci- ety, it's in the best position as an authoritative entity to repri- mand incivility. "Really, there is no other sanc- tion authority," Heins says, not- ing that judges are loath to use contempt citings in all but the most egregious matters. But that's a point on which Groia sharply disagrees. "What jurisdiction, if any, does the law society have to LMA Toronto's Winter Social JJoin us for a Pic ic in December!N i f Pic i i D b ! N Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. PicNic Wine Bar 747 Queen St E just east of Broadview www.picnicwinebar.com Join your legal industry friends and colleagues for the LMA Toronto Chapter's Winter Social Event. Our winter networking event will include cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and good friends at PicNic Wine Bar. Please note there is $25 registration fee for non-members, payable at the door by cash, cheque, Visa or MasterCard. RSVP to events.toronto@legalmarketing.org Event Sponsor For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.565.6967 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. LMA_LT_Nov30_09.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 11/27/09 9:25:58 AM LPB_2010_LT_Nov30_09.indd 1 11/26/09 1:41:32 PM regulate conduct in an open court?" he asks. It is the trial judge who is in the best position to "take the temperature" of proceedings on any given day, Groia says. In Felderhof, Justice Hryn did just that, Groia argues, noting that caustic language was not his exclusive domain in the trial. Groia's lawyer at the upcom- ing hearing, Earl Cherniak, who is a former law society bencher, will try to put his cli- ent's conduct in the context of the trial, Groia says. Addario says the law society does play a key role in educat- ing counsel on acceptable con- duct but is leery of any attempt to second-guess the posture of a defence lawyer in hindsight, es- pecially when that conduct was approved by a trial judge. However, Heins contests the assertion that the two rul- ings addressing Groia's conduct amounted to approval. "I would say that is inaccu- rate, but that's all I'll say." Heins wouldn't elaborate on whether the two rulings will be the subject of argument at Groia's hearing, the results of which could include penalties ranging from sanctions or suspension to revocation of his licence. These days, judges have an additional tool at their disposal when courtroom discourse de- scends into incivility, one that wasn't available to Hryn. In September, the law soci- ety announced a set of civility complaints protocols that per- mit a trial judge to refer counsel to the LSUC for mentoring on codes of conduct. However, some question the effectiveness of such an ap- proach. "To be realistic, lawyers tell- ing other lawyers to be nice will change absolutely nothing," says Eugene Meehan, chairman of Lang Michener LLP's Supreme Court practice group. He says many lawyers simply prefer to take a "gunslinger" ap- proach to litigation. LT Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book 2010 Your most complete directory of Ontario lawyers, law firms, judges and courts With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. More detail and a wider scope of legal contact information for Ontario than any other source • More than 26,000 lawyers • More than 9,300 law firms and corporate offices • Fax and telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, office locations and postal codes and more ORDER your copy today Perfectbound • December 2009 Standing order $64 P/C 0514140999 Current edition $67 P/C 0514010999 • ISSN 0845-4832 LT PAGE 5 Multiple copy discounts available

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