Court File and Parties
COURT FILE NO.: CV-21-00654716-0000 DATE: 20220823
ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
GMBR CAPITAL CORP. Plaintiffs
- and -
DEAN PARMAR, LAWRENCE GUY, SHANT POLADIAN, GOPI PILLAI a.k.a. GOPIKANNAN PILLAI, and SRI CHANDR Defendants
Counsel: Christopher J. Somerville for the Plaintiff Eric Morgan for the Defendant Sri Chandr Matthew Howe for the Defendants Parmar, Poladian and Pillai Matt Maurer for the Defendant Guy
Heard: August 23, 2022 (video hearing)
REASONS FOR DECISION
PERELL, J.
[1] This is a motion for an Order removing as lawyers of record for the defendant Sri Chandra.
[2] In a 2021 action, GMBR Capital Corp. sued Dean Parmar, Lawrence Guy, Shant Poladian, Gopi Pillai, and Sri Chandr.
[3] On April 12, 2021, Mr. Chandra retained Kushneryk Morgan LLP to defend the action.
[4] On April 26, 2021, after the defendants delivered their statements of defence and counterclaims, Mr. Chandra made an offer to settle the litigation in which GMBR Capital would recover its $500,000 investment plus $15,000 in costs. GMBR Capital accepted the settlement offer, which would see it made whole.
[5] The settlement, however, involved payment of the $515,000 in installments, and although Mr. Chandra paid the first installment of $115,000, he did not meet the timetable for the subsequent installments, and in these circumstances, GMBR Capital successfully moved to enforce the settlement. I granted a judgment enforcing the settlement.[^1]
[6] Recently, in March 2022, GMBR learned that Sri Chandra is the false name of Shariff Chandran a.k.a. as Srinivasan Chandran who is a convicted fraudster who was sentenced in November 2021 to a 30-month prison term for defrauding investors in Alberta. He had also been banned by the Alberta Securities Commission from employment in the securities industry for 25 years.
[7] In light of this information, GMBR brought a motion for an Order for, among other things, an amendment of the judgment against Mr. Sri Chandr.
[8] Although its legal account remained unpaid, Kushneryk Morgan LLP remained Mr. Chandr’s lawyer of record, and the law firm brought the motion to his attention, and it sought instructions from Mr. Chandr. When the firm could not obtain instructions, the law firm brought a motion to remove itself as lawyer of record.
[9] Mr. Chandr was aware of the motions, and he did not provide instructions.
[10] The motions were heard together. And GMBR’s motion proceeded as an opposed motion because Mr. Chandrs lawyers of record had no instructions to oppose the motion. I reserved judgment and granted GMBR’s motion to amend the judgment against Mr. Chandr.[^2]
[11] I also reserved judgment on Kushneryk Morgan LLP’s motion to be removed as lawyer of record. That motion should be granted without costs.
[12] Order accordingly.
Perell, J.
Released: August 23, 2022
COURT FILE NO.: CV-21-00654716-0000 DATE: 20220823
ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
GMBR CAPITAL CORP. Plaintiff
- and -
DEAN PARMAR, LAWRENCE GUY, SHANT POLADIAN, GOPI PILLAI a.k.a. GOPIKANNAN PILLAI, and SRI CHANDR Defendant
REASONS FOR DECISION
PERELL J.
Released: August 23, 2022
[^1]: GMBR Capital Corp. v. Parmar, 2021 ONSC 7798. [^2]: GMBR Capital Corp. v. Parmar, 2022 ONSC +