2 total
Appeal of licence revocation for knowing assistance in mortgage fraud dismissed; presumptive penalty applied.
The appellant appealed a Hearing Division order revoking his licence and ordering $26,000 in costs for professional misconduct involving knowing assistance in mortgage fraud.
The appellant argued the hearing panel erred in finding knowing assistance without actual knowledge, that the investigation was flawed, and that the penalty and costs were disproportionate.
The Appeal Division dismissed the appeal, finding no palpable and overriding error in the hearing panel's conclusion that the appellant knowingly assisted in fraud based on circumstantial evidence and ignored red flags.
The presumptive penalty of revocation was appropriate as no exceptional circumstances were established, and the costs award was reasonable.
Costs awarded against the Law Society for bringing an unwarranted interlocutory suspension motion without evidentiary foundation.
The Law Society brought a motion for an interlocutory suspension against three paralegals, alleging their involvement in a scheme to file meritless appeals of Highway Traffic Act guilty pleas.
The Tribunal previously dismissed the motion, finding no evidence that the paralegals had knowledge of the scheme.
The paralegals subsequently sought costs against the Law Society.
The Tribunal found that the Law Society's motion was unwarranted and doomed to fail, as it proceeded without any evidentiary foundation.
The Tribunal ordered the Law Society to pay costs to the paralegals totaling $53,000.
