Tabir Malik

The Law Society of Ontario brought a motion to admit the reasons and findings of fact from a Court of Appeal decision (R v Cowan) as proof of those facts in a conduct application against the respondent lawyer, and to preclude the lawyer from re-litigating those facts.

The Tribunal found that while the decision was admissible, its findings of fact should be accorded only limited weight because the lawyer was merely a witness in the prior proceeding, which focused on trial fairness rather than his professional conduct.

The Tribunal also held that the doctrine of abuse of process did not preclude the lawyer from leading evidence to contest the findings of fact.

The moving parties brought a motion for leave to appeal a decision of Centa J. The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal and ordered the moving parties to pay agreed costs of $4,000 to the responding party.

The defendants, Hafiz M. Ahmad and Orbit Engineering Limited, brought a motion for the production of various electronic documents and their metadata from several third parties and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.

The Discipline Committee granted the motion in part, ordering several third parties to provide the requested documents in their native electronic format with metadata by a specified date.

The Committee also ordered the Association to make best efforts to provide any expert reports it intended to rely on at the upcoming hearing.