Court File and Parties
Court File No.: CV-21-00655517-0000 Date: 2023-11-24 Superior Court of Justice - Ontario
Re: Law Society of Ontario, Plaintiff And: Kirupa Sutharsan, Defendant
Before: Justice Papageorgiou
Counsel: Jordan Katz, for the Plaintiff Mitchell Worsoff, for the Defendant
Heard: November 24, 2023
Endorsement
Background
1The Law Society brought proceedings against Mr. Sutharsan on the basis that Mr. Sutharsan was engaged in the practice of law without a licence in breach of a Court Order.
2On January 24, 2023 Mr. Sutharsan consented to the Order finding him in contempt.
3The penalty phased then proceeded on June 9, 2023. The Law Society sought incarceration for a term of 30 days.
4On June 23, 2023 I ordered that the penalty for the contempt would be an Order for community service and costs in the amount of $6,000 to be paid $300 per month.
5Mr. Sutharsan was required to obtain the consent of the Law Society for the community organization at which he would volunteer.
6He failed to do either of these things.
7The Law Society was required to arrange a case conference before me.
8Today, Mr. Sutharsan attended and advised that he paid the Law Society $2,000 yesterday. He has a receipt.
9He also advised that he has been volunteering at the Temple and has done 75 hours of community service so far.
10The whole reason Mr. Sutharsan ended up before me was that he failed to follow Court Orders. And it is very concerning that he has again failed to do so.
11As I advised him, his community service done so far may not count if the Law Society does not approve this organization and he still must obtain their consent.
Order
12I am giving Mr. Sutharsan one more chance.
(i) I order that Mr. Sutharsan provide Mr. Katz with the details of the community service he has been doing together with the contact information for this organization by December 1, 2023 by way of email jkatz@agbllp.com.
(ii) The Law Society shall advise him of their position as to whether they approve this organization by December 8, 2023.
(iii) If they do not approve this organization, Mr. Sutharsan shall advise the Law Society of another proposed organization by December 15, 2023.
(iv) As well, given Mr. Sutharsan says that he wishes to pay the balance of the costs by January 31, 2024. The Law Society does not oppose this and so my order is varied on this basis.
(v) This endorsement shall have the force and effect of an Order without the need for it being taken out as a formal order.
13If there are any more breaches of the Court Orders, including this endorsement, the Law Society may arrange an urgent motion before me for additional relief.
Papageorgiou J.
Date: November 24, 2023