Law Times

Law Times • OcTOber 4, 2010 NEWS PAGE 3 lawsuits filed by two former cli- ents who once fought each other in court and have now found a common enemy in him. In a statement of claim filed on July 7, Liaqat Chaudhry de- mands $500,000 in damages for the collapse of a plan to bring a singer dubbed "Pakistan's Mi- chael Jackson" to Toronto. He blames Charney's alleged negli- gence and delays for scuppering the deal. He also wants a further $500,000 in punitive damages. According to another state- ment of claim filed on Aug. 4, Muhammad Chaudhry, no re- lation, seeks $200,000 in dam- ages for what he alleges was Charney's failure to pursue a lawsuit against another lawyer. None of the allegations have been proven in court. Charney, a founding partner at Falconer Charney LLP, says he hadn't yet seen the lawsuit filed by Muhammad Chaudhry. But in a statement of defence and counterclaim to Liaqat Chaudhry's action dated Sept. Toronto lawyer sued by two former clients T BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times oronto lawyer Ted Char- ney has found himself entangled in a pair of 27, he says the client terminated the firm's retainer before reach- ing the deal, which left him with $12,000 in unpaid legal fees. Liaqat Chaudhry had pre- viously paid Muhammad Chaudhry $25,000 after a judg- ment against him in a dispute over a video store. Mississauga, Ont., business- man Dil Muhammad, who had been Charney's client since the mid-1980s, introduced both men to the lawyer. Dil Mu- hammad often acted as a go- between for both sides because neither Chaudhry speaks Eng- lish very well. "We are a community, you know. One day we are friends; the next day we are enemies. Now we have all got together on one side," Dil Muhammad tells Law Times. Dil Muhammad put his friend Liaqat Chaudhry in touch with Charney to deal with several different matters in late 2007. Since 2005, he had been fighting Abrar Ul Haq, a Pakistani pop star, for reneging on an agreement with his pro- motions company to perform two shows in Canada, includ- ing one at the Molson Canadi- an Amphitheatre in Toronto. "He was the Michael Jackson Black lawyer on Bay St. no longer an oxymoron BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times L ike many young lawyers seeking an associate position, Michael St. Patrick Baxter trawled the Bay Street law firms by going door-to-door with applications. Having graduated from the University of Western Ontario Fac- ulty of Law and after articling with a Bay Street firm, he added a clerkship with the chief justice of Ontario and an LLM from Harvard University to a bulging resumé. But this was the mid-1980s, a time when African-Canadians like him didn't find themselves very welcome at the large corporate firms. "Sadly, I was rejected by many of them, actually all of them," Baxter said. In 1998, he recounted the experience in an influential article published by the Canadian Business Law Journal entitled "Black Bay Street Lawyers and Other Oxymora." On Sept. 23, his return to Bay Street more than two decades later was a much happier affair during which he gave the keynote address at a Canadian Association of Black Lawyers event acknowl- edging the progress since then. While the renowned bankruptcy lawyer is now a partner at Covington & Burling LLP in Washing- ton, D.C., he described the event as a homecoming of sorts. "This time the reception is much warmer," he said. "This time, I don't feel like I'm the person on the outside of the store staring through the plate glass window." The event honoured the 17 CABL members who have become partners at Bay Street firms. For his part, Baxter said he was happy to lay the ghost of his article to rest. "Your presence tonight really demonstrates that a black Bay Street lawyer is no longer an oxymoron," he told the honourees. "Each of you has blazed a trail where none existed before." Frank Walwyn, CABL's president and a partner at WeirFoulds LLP, praised the firms for their part in opening doors to black lawyers. "We hear much right now about the business case for diversity," he said. "It's a buzz phrase right now, but what these firms have done effectively is not just talked the talk, they have walked the walk." Linc Rogers, a partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, says the event wasn't just about recognizing the accomplishments of the honourees but also about highlighting their role in the effort to continue to boost the number of black partners. "Ultimately, you want to make sure you're lifting as you're climbing, making sure it's easier for people to follow you along that path," he tells Law Times. LT For video of this news story, see lawtimesnews.com. Untitled-2 1www.lawtimesnews.com 9/29/10 10:37:39 AM INDISPENSABLE, AUTHORITATIVE BULLEN & LEAKE & JACOB. THE CLASSIC IS NOW CANADIAN. NEW PUBLICATION BULLEN & LEAKE & JACOB'S CANADIAN PRECEDENTS OF PLEADINGS With this new Canadian version of Bullen & Leake & Jacob, you can learn from Canada's top litigators how to draft accurate, clear and compelling pleadings. Compiled by an extraordinary team of Canadian lawyers who are well-known experts in their respective fields, this indispensable new resource sets out numerous samples of pleadings arranged by area of law. The accompanying CD-ROM gives you immediate access to electronic versions of all of the precedent documents, as well as the full-text case law referenced throughout the book. To learn more about our contributing authors, please visit www.carswell.com/BL of his time," Dil Muhammad says. "He was in the bloom of his career when he made the contract to come here." Liaqat Chaudhry hired a lawyer, but the case dragged on without much progress, so Dil Muhammad suggested Charney take over, according to the state- ment of claim. Dil Muhammad says the relationship between Charney and Liaqat Chaudhry began to sour due to another case in which the lawyer defended him against his former partner in a restaurant business. His claim states that Char- ney billed more than $20,000 on that case, despite the matter being worth only $75,000. He also claims Charney proceeded on a motion to have passages of his former partner's statement of claim struck without telling him. But Charney insists in his defence that Liaqat Chaudhry instructed him to strike the claim "on the basis of scandal- ous allegations." In the meantime, Liaqat Chaudhry's claim says nego- tiations had progressed with Ul Haq. During a meeting attended by a lawyer from Charney's of- fice in September 2008, the artist agreed to perform four shows in the summer of 2009. But he said he needed to finalize the settle- ment by November 2008 because of his schedule. The claim says Charney was to prepare the draft settlement but alleges he stopped doing any work on behalf of Liaqat Chaudhry. According to Dil Muhammad, Ul Haq's career has now plummeted, which leaves Liaqat Chaudhry with no means to mitigate his losses from the original failed concerts. But according to Charney, the September meeting didn't result in a settlement because "Dil and Chaudhry changed their minds." At the same time, he says the first he heard about the November deadline was in an e-mail from Dil Muhammad after it had passed. In any case, Charney's de- fence claims the firm's retainer had ended that September when Muhammad sent the lawyer an e-mail informing him they would deal with the pop star alone. Charney says he heard nothing from the pair on the matter until January 2009. In the counterclaim, he says he's still waiting for payment from Liaqat Chaudhry on two accounts totalling $12,000. The second suit against Charney brought by Muhammad Chaudhry originated in a strange chain of litigation involving both Chaudhrys and Dil Muham- mad himself. Liaqat Chaudhry was ordered to pay Muhammad Chaudhry $25,000, but he in turn owed a $35,000 judgment to Dil Muhammad. Dil Muhammad asked Liaqat Chaudhry's lawyer, Charney, to stop the cheque, but it had already gone to Muhammad Chaudhry's lawyer, Mohammed Muslim. Muhammad Chaudhry's claim al- leges Muslim misappropriated the $25,000 in cheque funds along with another $26,000 in retain- ers he had paid him. After a Law Society of Upper Canada hearing panel found Muslim had misap- propriated a total of $145,000 from his trust account, he was ordered to resign his LSUC mem- bership or be disbarred. Dil Muhammad says he thought Charney was the natural choice for Muhammad Chaudhry to pursue Muslim because of his involvement in the case. But Muhammad Chaudhry's claim alleges Charney stopped working on the file after June 2008 and ignored his calls despite accepting a $7,500 retainer. LT ORDER # 982802-62461 $299 Hardcover + CD ROM approx. 580 pages August 2010 978-0-7798-2802-9 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. AVAILABLE RISK FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order Online at www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800

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