The plaintiff brought a motion compelling former counsel to deliver the litigation file after the lawyer removed himself as counsel of record due to unpaid accounts.
The former solicitor asserted a solicitor’s lien over the file under s. 6(6) of the Solicitors Act.
The court reviewed the distinction between situations where a solicitor discharges the client and where the client discharges the solicitor.
Because the solicitor had withdrawn from the retainer, the court held the file must be delivered to allow continuation of the underlying lawsuit, though the solicitor’s lien remained preserved.
The court ordered delivery of the file subject to undertakings from new counsel and maintained the lien against any eventual recovery.
