Court of Appeal for Ontario

Citation: Covriga v. Covriga, 2011 ONCA 769 Date: 2011-12-07 Docket: C50900

Between: Mihaela Juliana Covriga, Appellant in Appeal (Applicant) and Remus Joan Covriga, Respondent in Appeal (Respondent)

Before: Feldman, Sharpe and Epstein JJ.A.

Counsel: Mihaela Covriga, in person Kim Stock, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: November 21, 2011

On appeal from the order of Justice Carolyn Horkins of the Superior Court of Justice dated August 8, 2009.

Endorsement

[1] The appellant’s main issue raised before this court is that her trial counsel was not well versed in family law and trial procedure, that this was apparent to the trial judge, and that as a result, the trial judge should have declared a mistrial at some point.

[2] We cannot give effect to this submission. The appellant made no motion for a mistrial. The trial lasted 14 days. The appellant was represented by her counsel throughout. There was no basis for the trial judge, on her own motion, to declare a mistrial in the circumstances of this case.

[3] The trial judge gave thorough reasons and made clear findings of fact on which she based her legal conclusions. She also gave lengthy and thorough reasons for awarding costs in this case, in part against trial counsel to reflect her role in the delay and other conduct that added to the cost of this proceeding.

[4] The trial judge learned only after the trial, in an affidavit filed for the cost hearing, that the appellant’s lawyer was on administrative suspension from the Law Society for several days during the trial. On the record before us, there was no basis to conclude that the administrative suspension affected the fairness of the trial.

[5] The appeal is therefore dismissed with costs on a partial indemnity scale fixed at $12,000 inclusive of disbursements and H.S.T.

Signed: "K. Feldman J.A." "Robert J. Sharpe J.A." "G.J. Epstein J.A."