Court of Appeal for Ontario

CITATION: Admassu v. Degago, 2009 ONCA 673

DATE: 20090923

DOCKET: C50264

Winkler C.J.O., Sharpe and Armstrong JJ.A.

BETWEEN

Ayele Admassu

Appellant

and

Daniel Degago

Respondent

Ayele Admassu, in person

Charles Sinclair, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: September 11, 2009

On appeal from the judgment of Justice T. R. Lederer of the Superior Court of Justice dated March 4, 2009.

ENDORSEMENT

[1] The appellant was involved in a child protection proceeding involving the custody of his daughter. Ultimately, custody of the child was awarded to the child’s mother. The appellant claims that he lost the custody of his daughter by virtue of the conduct of the lawyer for the child’s mother. The lawyer is the respondent in this appeal. In particular, the appellant alleges that the respondent lied to the judge and misled her as to the mental health of his client.

[2] The appellant commenced this action against the respondent and alleged that he had committed several criminal acts including perjury, fraud and conspiracy. Counsel for the respondent moved to strike the appellant’s statement of claim pursuant to rules 21 and 25. The motion judge concluded:

The action cannot succeed. It is frivolous and vexatious and appears to be an attempt to relitigate issues already dealt with and is thus an abuse of process.

The motion judge dismissed the action.

[3] We agree with the reasons of the motion judge. The appeal is dismissed. Costs are fixed in the amount of $1,000 plus disbursements and GST.

“W. Winkler C.J.O.”

“Robert Sharpe J.A.”

“Robert P. Armstrong J.A.”