Law Times

LaW TIMeS • FeBRUaRY 6, 2017 Page 5 www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 Bachir Abou Chakra Muhammad Shahwar Akbar Heba Mazin Al-Shakarchi Refayat Tahsina Alam Aljosa Alilovic Amma Afum Anaman Paulette Geraldine Annon Tizianna Aulino Sahil Husain Azad Godfrey Bakeerathan Amrik Singh Batth Amanda Lisa Bercovitch Nima Besharat Adam Jordon Tyler Bond Ashlinder Brar Guiseppe Capisciolti Daniel Robert Carpenter Jean-Michel Maurice Cazabon Felix Chakirov Michael David Chalupovitsch Erika Valerie Wai Yee Chan Mohammad Ali Chaudary Muhammad Nadeem Chaudhry Edward Wing-Chung Choi Tamma Choi Robert Joseph Ciriello Analisa Corbo Janine Kimberley D'Souza Raheena Dahya Veronica Tamae Daley Natasha Dassanayake Noel Dekking Julien Michel Demers Nandi Ayodele Olivia Deterville Anne Marie Di Santo Michael David Wayne Donald Audrey Debralee Doxtdator Kaleigh Marissa Dryla Andréanne Dubé Jordan Aubrey Duviner Kimberly Catherine Elliott Christopher Bruce Erickson Vivian Maria Esper Peter Eustace Sasha Faraone Anna Josie Fitzsimmons Jocelyn Winter Formsma Jasmine Constance Gassi Yara Ghazi Simran Kaur Gill Barbara Caterina Giorgio Erdal Gok Sheryl Ann Grant Erik Karl Gutenkunst Umme Habiba William James Halford Irene Hanna Tiffany Mary Heffernan Aziza Abdillahi Hassan Hirsi Jessica Louie Sieve-Keow Ho-Wo-Cheong Mohammad Delwar Hossain Marquise Lee Karoline Gisèle Houle Martin Sui-Ming Hui Aatifa Ibrahim Henry Igbinoba Marco Anton Radiuk Jacuta Bree-Aaron Betsy-Lee Molly Ruby Frances Jamieson-Holloway Natalie Javed Keltie Jacqueline John Keerit Pal Singh Jutla Aneel Ahmad Kamran Peter Gurguis Karam Matthew Kazandji Kathleen Michelina Kealey Khamissa Khamsi Sarah Hafeez Khan Sana Shaukat Khokhar Ariel Shimon Kirzner Emma McArdle Kutka Shawn Roderick Bruce Leclerc Katherine Hyewon Lee Boshan Li Priya Dharshani Lilmohan Michael Julian Lippa Wai Ying Lui Christopher Lawrence Lukas Coral Evelyn Susan Lyster Aminder Kaur Mangat Renai Bonnie Althea Martin Kristina Matveeva Rosalyn Irene Mc Farlan Harrison Luke McCain Rory Mark McDonagh Jonathan Eric Ockwell McGillivray Elizabeth Catherine Ann McMillan John Victor Jacob Mesec Tyler Keith Joseph Meyer Mohamed Abdurahman Mohamed Mitra Mohammadi-West Gazal Mojdehi Morag Jean Mac Gregor Morel Tara Esther Messeouda Mrejen Guncha Murara Albana Musta Tatiana Cathleen Nickorick Joe Ifeanyi Nzemeke Maria Alessandra B. Ocampo Ugochukwu Uzochukwu Ojukwu Godfrey Okundaye Denis Onek Olwedo Ngozi Cecilia Onyia Clara Maria de Ortiz Cintia Panucci Zanellato Christine Nalini Persaud Elysia Claire Petrone Reitberger Jason Spencer Pinkerton Jordan Kenneth Potechin Sandra Wicline Prevalus Allison Jane Radcliffe Denise Diane Resnick Anneke Joy-Marie Russell Christiane Saad Leah Jacqueline Saltiel Anita Mary Samuel Renée Dawn Satterswaite Danica Eliana Schweitzer Vic Sehdev Vino Shanmuganathan Gaurav Sharma Jordan Duncan Russel Dobson Sharpe Jia Shen Brendan Patrick Sheridan Christopher Robert Shultz Alexandre Jérémie Simard Ishdeep Singh Navdeep Singh Pavandeep Singh Katherine Maria Spensieri Aisha Suleman Noor N. Tow k Sultan Katharine Nora Sutherland Brandon Nicholas Szarabura Edmond Gerald Tetrault Amandip Uppal Whitney Rose Van Belleghem Emily Pety VanLooyen Preetmohinder Singh Wadhwa Heather Elaine Watson Kate Delamere Webster Scott Thornley Widdowson Patrick Allan Wright Marwa Racha Younes 2017 Call To The Bar Law Times congratulates the 152 new lawyers called to the bar on Jan. 27, at Roy Thomson Hall. The ceremony included the awarding of an honorary doctor of law degrees to Thomas G. Heintzman. Heintzman received the award to mark his achieve- ments as a lawyer, educator, author and mediator. Law Society Treasurer Paul Schabas told the new lawyers at the ceremony, "Your education and training, and your position as a member of the profession, empowers you and, in turn, can em- power others. Your job is to use the law, and to develop the law, for the good of your clients and the good of society." Source: Law Society of Upper Canada Lawyer who alleged biased judge has appeal nixed BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times T he Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected a Toronto lawyer's claim that a judge who pre- sided over his dispute with an- other lawyer was biased. In Fancy Barristers P.C. v. Morse Shannon LLP, the court threw out Hassan Fancy's ap- peal of two charging orders that Ontario Superior Court Jus- tice Darla Wilson had issued in his dispute with lawyer Jerome Morse over unpaid fees. "There is a strong presump- tion of judicial impartiality and a heavy burden on a party who seeks to rebut this presump- tion," said the decision by Jus- tices Mary Lou Benotto, David Brown and Bradley Miller. "Judicial impartiality has been called "the key to our judi- cial process". . . Nothing in the material before us comes close to rebutting the presumption of impartiality." After Wilson granted char- ging orders against Fancy, in addition to filing his appeal, he filed a recusal motion demand- ing Wilson remove herself from the proceedings. Wilson rejected his motion in Morse Shannon v. Fancy, saying he had failed to provide any evidence supporting his al- legations. Fancy's allegations concerned a personal injury case from more than 10 years ago, in which Wil- son acted for the defendant and Fancy represented the plaintiff. Fancy claimed Wilson was "linked" to an alleged incident in 2005, when Fancy said a stranger tried to film his client in the case while trespassing on his property. In a 2005 letter Fancy sent to Wilson and her co-counsel Todd McCarthy in 2005, which was submitted in the recusal motion, Fancy asked if they had retained surveillance agents in the case. Morse submitted an affidav- it by McCarthy saying he sent a letter back to Fancy informing him they had not. In his letter, McCarthy said neither he nor Wilson had any knowledge with respect to the incident Fancy described in his letter. Also submitted was a letter by Wilson to Fancy saying her client had not conducted any surveillance or retained investi- gators who would have been in- volved in the incident. In her decision on the re- cusal motion, Wilson said his motion was devoid of merit and that "there is not a scintilla of evidence to support any of the allegations Mr. Fancy has made." Fancy has said that he sought leave from the Divisional Court to appeal the recusal motion de- cision. In his Notice of Motion, Fancy claimed Wilson could not be objective, as there was a "bit- ter history" between them. In the underlying dispute, Fancy retained Morse and his firm on two personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, but he terminated the agree- ments and did not pay Morse for docketed time and disburse- ments, the Court of Appeal de- cision said. Morse brought applications for two charging orders against Fancy, as well as two actions seeking payment and declara- tions of entitlement to the fees. Morse applauded the Court of Appeal's decision. "Mr. Fancy's unfounded at- tacks on Justice Wilson for bias is in my estimation no more than a transparent attempt to judge shop and neither the court of ap- peal nor Justice Wilson would countenance such a deplorable tactic," said Morse. In his appeal of the charging orders, Fancy argued Wilson had erred by granting the orders to Morse and that the test to ob- tain such an order was not met. He argued that there was no outstanding account between Morse and the minor plaintiffs in the cases, as Morse does not have a retainer in the agreement with them. He has also contended that Morse's filing of both charging orders and actions for the same relief is an abuse of process. Morse said the actions were ne- cessary to determine whether and how much Fancy would have to pay him. The Court of Appeal rejected Fancy's submissions and deter- mined that Wilson had not made any errors in the test that she ap- plied to the charging order. The court also found that Morse was employed to pros- ecute the litigation and that there was evidence that his ac- count would not be paid. Fancy, and his lawyer Shah- zad Siddiqui, did not respond to requests for comment. LT Jerome Morse says he was pleased with a ruling that rejected a lawyer's claim a judge was biased in a matter the lawyer was involved in. In-class and online programs recognized by Law Societies Executive Education to Navigate the Canadian Legal Landscape Visit Lexpert.ca to find out more

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