COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

CITATION: Consky v. Farooq, 2013 ONCA 393
DATE: 20130611
DOCKET: C54378

Laskin, Rosenberg and Tulloch JJ.A.

BETWEEN

Harvey S. Consky
Solicitor (Respondent)

and

Abdul Kasim Farooq
Client (Appellant)

Counsel:
Michael Czuma, for the appellant
Frank Feldman and Darrell Paul, for the respondent

Heard: June 10, 2013

On appeal from the order of Justice David Corbett of the Superior Court of Justice, dated August 30, 2011.

APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT

[1] The appellant submits that the retainer agreement is a contingency fee agreement that offended the Solicitors Act and, therefore, the confirmation of the assessment must be set aside. We do not accept this submission for three reasons:

(1) We agree with Justice Corbett that the retainer agreement was not a contingency fee agreement.

(2) Even if it was a contingency fee agreement, the Solicitors Act does not apply retrospectively to it.

(3) The appellant disavowed the agreement and asked for an assessment of the fairness and the reasonableness of the account. That is what he got.

[2] The appeal is dismissed, with costs fixed at $7,000, inclusive of disbursements and applicable taxes.