Category: Free Speech

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Court Of Appeal Confirms Dismissal Under Anti-SLAPP Laws Of Gill Defamation Suit

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has thrown out an Appeal from by 2 Ontario doctors. This was to challenge the result of a $12.75 million defamation lawsuit originally filed against 23 individuals and organizations. Although this was primarily over Twitter comments related to the “pandemic”, some old remarks involving the Ontario Medical Association were included.

The Court also denied permission to appeal the cost award of the initial lawsuit. In Ontario, when cases are thrown out under anti-SLAPP laws, the costs are “presumptively” awarded on a full indemnity, or 100% basis. And that is indeed what happened to the 2 doctors.

The February 2022 decision was very long. But at its core, many of the same finding came up over and over again.

  • The expressions relate to matters of a public interest
  • The expressions may have been unprofessional and insulting, but were not defamatory
  • The expressions are protected as fair comment, and are obviously comment
  • The Plaintiffs (Gill and Lamba) haven’t produced evidence of any real harm
  • Public interest is better served with protecting the expression

Section 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act lays out the “anti-SLAPP” laws. SLAPP is of course an acronym for a strategic lawsuit against public participation. British Columbia has very similar laws. The purpose is to have a mechanism to quickly screen out cases that may be designed to silence speech or expression on public interest issues. Justice Stewart stated:

[17] I also conclude that these claims are precisely ones that are of the kind that s. 137.1 is designed to discourage and screen out.

The Court of Appeal ultimately agreed with this sentiment.

What’s interesting is that when the Appeal was finally heard, there weren’t 23 Respondents. There were only 4 of them left. And Lamba herself was no longer involved.

  • Dr. Angus Maciver
  • Dr. Nadia Alam
  • André Picard
  • Alheli Picazo

All of the others had the Appeal against them discontinued. It had been argued by many that this Appeal was simply “leverage”, in order to circumvent the original rulings.

The case was dismissed by Justice Stewart under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws, and eventually, a cost award of $1.1 million was handed down. However, the Appeal meant that the case was still open, and that more costs would be required to fight it.

A brief timeline of events:

December 2020: Kulvinder Gill and Ashvinder Lamba filed a $12.75 million defamation lawsuit against 23 individuals and media outlets, largely over a series of spats on Twitter. This was in the Toronto Branch of Ontario Superior Court.

September 2021: over the course of 3 days, several anti-SLAPP Motions were argued. The primary basis for these Motions was Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act, which is designed to screen out litigation designed for “libel chill” or “gag proceedings”.

February 2022: Justice Stewart dismissed the claims against all proceedings, on the grounds that the lawsuit was exactly the type of case that anti-SLAPP laws were designed to weed out.

March 2022: the Decision was appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeals.

May 2022, despite filing the Notice of Appeal and Evidence Certificate (a list of evidence to be used), Gill and Lamba find themselves without counsel. It appears from the badly redacted filings that they are rather upset about the mess that they’re now in. If only someone had advised them that filing frivolous defamation claims in Ontario — which has strong anti-SLAPP laws — was a very dangerous and risky idea. Clearly, they got poor advice. (See Record)

July 2022: both Gill and Lamba retained new counsel, who tried to ward off the coming costs awards. In total, they were looking at over $1 million in costs. While this sounds excessive, they sued 23 Parties, which works out to an average of about $55,000 each.

September 2022: The Appeal is finally “perfected”, which means that the Appellants have filed everything they intend to bring to the hearing.

Due to various delays, the Appeal was set back considerably.

October 2022: although the case had been appealed, the issue of costs hadn’t been resolved. It finally was at the end of October, with Gill and Lamba (but mostly just Gill) owing over $1.1 million in Court fees. It must be pointed out that s.137.1(7) of the Courts of Justice Act sets “full indemnity”, or 100% of costs, as the baseline. True, Judges don’t have to award it, but that’s considered the starting point.

November 2023: The Pointer Group Inc., one of the Defendant Respondents, files a Motion for Security for Costs. The rationale is that Gill should have to demonstrate that there’s merit to the Appeal, and that she has money, all in advance.

November 2023: The Motion from The Pointer Group Inc. is dismissed.

December 2023: The Appeal is heard for the remaining parties. As expected, the verdict was reserved (deferred) until later.

February 2024: The Court of Appeal has some harsh words at the end of their ruling.

[25] First, the motion judge found that the offensive language used by Maciver in his impugned tweets was not defamatory. The motion judge noted that there is an important distinction in the law of defamation between words that are actionable for being defamatory and words that merely contain insults and are not actionable. The motion judge acknowledged that some of the language used by Maciver may have been unprofessional and ill-advised, but involved pure name-calling and was therefore not defamatory.

[26] Second, the motion judge found that the appellant had offered no evidence of any harm caused to her reputation as a result of the impugned tweets, other than “vague, unparticularized statements.” Therefore, even if the words complained of were defamatory, and some general damage to the appellant’s reputation is therefore to be presumed, any such damage is likely to be assessed as being merely nominal.

[27] Section 137.1(4)(b) of the CJA provides that if the impugned expression giving rise to a proceeding relates to a matter of “public interest”, the proceeding shall be dismissed unless the plaintiff satisfies the judge that the harm they have suffered, or are likely to suffer, is “sufficiently serious that the public interest in permitting the proceeding to continue outweighs the public interest in protecting that expression.”

[28] Given the at most nominal damages suffered by the appellant as a result of the impugned tweets by Maciver, the motion judge found that the public interest in protecting Maciver’s right to speak out on a matter of public interest outweighs any considerations that might otherwise favour allowing the appellant’s defamation action against him to continue.

Regarding the claims against Picard, Weeks and Picazo, the Court of Appeal found that their expressions were protected by the “fair comment” defence. And as with Maciver, Gill never produced any evidence that she had been seriously harmed by these remarks. The Panel decided that protecting the expression was more important than allowing the case to continue — exactly what Justice Stewart had written.

[62] The motion judge found that the appellant’s defamation claim against the critics of her unorthodox views on effective treatment for COVID-19 was intended to silence those critics. As the motion judge found, correctly in my view, this is precisely the type of proceeding that s. 137.1 was designed to foreclose.

[63] It is unclear why the appellant included the unrelated allegations against Maciver in the proceeding that was otherwise focused on issues related to COVID-19. Maciver had a limited social media profile, his criticisms of the appellant were taken down shortly after they were posted, he apologized publicly and privately to the appellant, and he was subsequently disciplined by the OMA for his comments. The appellant waited nearly two years before commencing a proceeding against Maciver and yet was unable to produce any evidence of reputational or other harm resulting from his tweets. The motion judge did not err in dismissing the appellant’s claim against him pursuant to s. 137.1(4)(b) of the CJA.

[67] It was the appellant’s choice to commence a proceeding against 23 different defendants, one, moreover, that has now been found to be without merit. Given that this proceeding is precisely the kind of action that s. 137.1 is designed to prevent, the motion judge was fully justified in applying the presumption of full indemnity costs set out in s. 137.1(7).

Gill had also sought Leave (permission) to appeal the $1.1 million cost award. That was denied, as the Panel viewed her overall Appeal as without any merit.

Gill and Lamba appear to have been successful at “leveraging” the Appeal into a settlement for reduced costs. In other words, they strong armed their victims into accepting lesser amounts. This comes despite the fact that both the original Claim and Appeal had no merit.

This doesn’t appear to be the end for either of them.

Kulvinder Gill still has an open $7 million lawsuit against Amir Attaran and the University of Ottawa over Twitter insults. This faces another anti-SLAPP Motion.

Ashvinder Lamba is suing her former counsel for incompetence, negligence, malpractice, and for having undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Expect follow up coverage.

MOTION FOR SECURITY FOR COSTS
(1) Gill V. Maciver Amended Notice of Motion – 26 Sept 2023
(2) Gill v Maciver – San Grewal’s appeal for support M54554.MPF.PointerGroup – October 2023.PDF
(3) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PbEewt3dAKqAT5Udp6BIIqrM9Y_AhPHv/view
(4) Ruling: Motion For Security Of Costs – Denied

KULVINDER GILL/ASHVINDER LAMBA CASE:
(1) Gill/Lamba Defamation Lawsuit December 2020
(2) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-c43/latest/rso-1990-c-c43.html#sec137.1_smooth
(3) Gill/Lamba Factum Of Medical Post Tristan Bronca
(4) Gill/Lamba Case Dismissed As A SLAPP
(5) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc1279/2022onsc1279.html#par17
(6) Gill/Lamba Notice of Appeal and Appellants’ Certificate
(7) Gill/Lamba Appeal – Notice of Intention to Dismiss Appeal for Delay, May 12, 2022
(8) Motion To Recuse – Badly Redacted -2022-06-17 – Notice
(9) Motion To Recuse – Badly Redacted -2022 – Motion Record
(10) Gill/Lamba July 15 Letter To Obtain New Counsel
(11) Gill/Lamba Case Conference Brief July 29, 2022
(12) Gill/Lamba Endorsement New Counsel Cost Submissions August 3, 2022
(13) Gill/Lamba Case $1.1 Million In Costs Ordered October 31, 2022

GILL/ATTARAN/UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA CASE:
(1) Gill-Attaran Statement Of Claim
(2) Gill Attaran Affidavit Of Service
(3) Gill-Attaran Notice Of Intent
(4) Gill-Attaran Motice To Recuse
(5) Gill-Ataran Motion To Recuse Motion Record

LAMBA PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE CLAIM:
(1) Lamba Statement Of Claim

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Lawyer In Anti-SLAPP Decision Sued For Malpractice, Incompetence & Negligence

A $600,000 lawsuit was filed in Ontario Superior Court by an Ontario doctor who says that her former counsel was incompetent and negligent to the point that she’s suffered damages. She claims that the representation fell far below what should be considered professional. Specifically the Claim cites:

  • professional negligence
  • breach of fiduciary duty
  • breach of contract
  • incompetence
  • conflict of interest

Kulvinder Kaur Gill and Ashvinder Kaur Lamba, both Ontario doctors, made headlines in 2020, filing a $12.75 million defamation lawsuit against 23 parties. It was primarily over petty online drama, and predictably, it was thrown out. The case was appealed, to the Ontario Court of Appeal. Soon afterwards, their lawyer, “Mr. Bad Beyond Argument”, abandoned them. This was allegedly over prolonged health issues.

Asher Honickman went on to represent Lamba in 2022. It’s interesting, since he’s also the one to commence proceedings against her former lawyer.

One of the main points of contention is that Gill and Lamba should never have joined their cases. While Gill alleged defamation from 23 parties, Lamba only had isses with 2 of them (Angus Maciver and Nadia Alam). Even then, she never really had a case against one of them. It’s argued in this malpractice suit that the asymmetry led to Lamba getting dragged into something much larger than she wanted.

Due to deficiencies in the original suit, it’s pleaded that Lamba wants damages from all 23 Defendants, even though she admittedly had nothing to do with 21 of them.

Also in this suit, Lamba claims she was never properly advised about the cost consequences — full indemnity (or 100%) — which are typical if they’re dismissed under anti-SLAPP laws.

There are many more problems to cover, and we’ll get into that. But first:

Timeline of major events

Pre-2020: Gill and Lamba have prior issues with Maciver and Alam. These predate the “pandemic” and the debate over lockdown measures.

Summer/Fall of 2020: Kulvinder Gill gets into many trivial arguments on Twitter, leading to some harsh replies. These are screenshotted to use as evidence.

December 2020: Gill and Lamba, sued 23 individuals and organizations for defamation. This was primarily (although not entirely) brought over Twitter spats that Gill had engaged in.

September 2021: Over the course of 3 days, several anti-SLAPP Motions are argued before Justice Stewart in the Superior Court. These are Motions to dismiss, based on Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act. This is a section of the law that allows for rapid screening of lawsuits brought to “stifle public interest speech”.

February 2022: Justice Stewart dismisses the suit was dismissed under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws. This wasn’t at all surprising to anyone who understands defamation law. It was an extremely weak case. At this point, costs have yet to be determined.

March 2022: The lawyer for Gill and Lamba files a Notice of Appeal, despite the fact that he doesn’t intend to stick around. It also becomes apparent that counsel doesn’t fully understand the purpose of anti-SLAPP laws, nor the standards applied.

May 2022: Counsel for Gill and Lamba succeeds in getting himself removed from the case for “health reasons”. This come despite him actively being involved in other litigation, and even commencing other lawsuits.

July 2022: Gill and Lamba (with new counsel) try to get new cost submissions filed. They claim that their previous lawyer didn’t do anywhere close to an adequate job.

September 2022: The Appeal is “perfected” meaning all the documents are submitted. Note: there still hasn’t been an award of costs yet for the original decision from February.

October 2022: Gill and Lamba are hit with $1.1 million in legal costs from the Defendants, who were successful in getting the case thrown out. But to be fair, Gill took the bulk of the hit. She had sued all 23 Defendants, while Lamba was only pursuing a case against 2 of them.

October 2023: One of the Respondents, the Pointer Group Inc., argues a Motion that Gill should have to pay her costs up front, given how weak the Appeal is.

November 2023: The Motion for security for costs is denied.

December 2023: After many delays, the Appeal is finally heard, but with only a few Respondents left. Most have cut some sort of deal to accept partial payment.

February 2024: The Court of Appeal for Ontario throws out the Appeal against the few remaining Respondents who hadn’t yet settled over this.

Now, what other problems are alleged in this malpractice suit?

Lamba’s relief sought incorrectly lists “all” Defendants

This is from page 7 of the Statement of Claim. Even though Lamba is pursuing defamation claims from just 2 of the Defendants (Gill from all 23), she seeks aggravated and punitive damages from everyone. This is a horribly amateurish error to make. These damages make up $2 million dollars, and it’s demanded that people who aren’t alleged to have wronged her have to pay.

This is the problem with the cut-and-paste lawsuit business. Important proofreading like this gets overlooked.

Claim wrongly lists all Defendants liable to BOTH Plaintiffs

From page 81 of the Statement of Claim, it’s alleged that all the Defendants are liable to both Gill and Lamba for: (a) libel and slander; (b) conspiracy; (c) negligence; and (d) breach of professional obligations.

But, as stated earlier, Lamba had nothing to do with 21 out of the 23 Defendants. Her only stated grievances were with Maciver and Alam. The poorly worded Claim doesn’t distinguish that though.

What else is there?

Lamba alleges she wasn’t advised to file Affidavit

Paragraph 17(d) the Claim reads that Lamba didn’t produce any evidence. By this, it means that she never submitted a sworn Affidavit against the anti-SLAPP Motions.

That matters because the 3rd branch of the anti-SLAPP test requires that the Plaintiffs submit evidence of at least some damages. While it doesn’t have to be a “fully developed brief”, there has to be something for a Judge to conclude that damages occurred.

By failing to do this, it’s guaranteed that the case would be thrown out.

Lamba alleges she was neglected in favour of Gill

Paragraph 17(f) of the Claim reads that the anti-SLAPP Motions Lamba received got nowhere near the attention that the ones targeted at Gill. As such, she felt neglected by her own representation.

Lamba alleges she preferred to settle or discontinue

Paragraphs 17(g), (h), and 33(c) of the Claim read that Lamba would have been better off to go the route of apology, settlement, or possibly discontinuance. This would substantially mitigate cost exposure. She states that her lawyer should have taken that approach.

Lamba alleges junior lawyers did work they weren’t trained for

Paragraphs 17(j) and 33(g) of the Claim read that junior lawyers and/or staff were doing parts of the work that they weren’t trained for, or competent in. There was apparently little oversight to ensure that it was done properly. Then again, it seems that senior counsel isn’t competent either.

By junior lawyers, this presumably refers to Samantha Coomara, who works at that firm. Gill and Lamba have a separate lawsuit in Brampton that names her.

As an aside: Coomara was the lawyer of record who sued this site, after sending threatening letters. She is grossly incompetent, and lacks understanding of basic procedures.

Lamba alleges conflict of interest with her legal representation

Paragraphs 17(k), 33(l) and (m) of the Claim read that Lamba’s own lawyers had their own agenda, and put their interests above their own. Presumably this refers to the Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice cases which allege that there was a global conspiracy. This led to the highly publicized but poorly drafted lawsuits that kept getting thrown out.

Lamba was interested in a straightforward and (relatively) private defamation case. She apparently never wanted to get involved in any of this. She openly calls this a conflict of interest.

Lamba alleges she was never informed of the risks

Paragraph 33(b) of the Claim reads that Lamba was never properly advised about the risks of starting a defamation suit in Ontario. Between the strong anti-SLAPP laws, and the “presumptive full indemnity on costs”, this can get very messy.

The Claim mentions repeatedly that Lamba wasn’t kept in the loop about major decisions within her own case. It’s also claimed many times that the representation she got was incompetent.

Furthermore, she blames the quality of the pleadings on incompetence. It’s stated that her claims focused on the insults which aren’t actionable, versus the actual defamation.

Lamba is resentful at having her name tied to Gill, and to her lawyer’s overall agenda. She views it as very unhelpful. The $7 million suit Gill filed against Amir Attaran for calling her an “idiot” probably doesn’t help. While Lamba may have had valid grievances on her own, connecting with Gill and her lawyer seem to have caused endless headaches.

Keep in mind, all of this is written from Lamba’s perspective. We’ll have to see what the Statement of Defence says.

What are the practical consequences of suing 23 people and organizations? Well, a lot of lawyers are going to get rich billing the hours to defend against these claims.

This was another headache Lamba had to deal with. The bulk of the lawsuit had nothing to do with her, but she was claiming damages against everyone. Once the case was thrown out, she was presumptively on the hook for half of it. Part of the reason Lamba and Gill got separate counsel is that their interests diverged greatly in terms of the costs.

Gill would benefit much more from a 50/50 split
Lamba would benefit from everyone paying their own share

Anyhow, this is only a quick summary. Do read the entire Statement of Claim, as it’s quite the eye opener.

What will happen with this lawsuit?

It’s hard to say, but here’s a personal prediction:

Since it’s a lawyer being sued for negligence and malpractice, insurance will likely cover it. This means they’ll be providing a lawyer to defend it, and pay most of the bills. If it were a claim for dishonesty or misrepresentation, they probably wouldn’t.

Anyhow, insurance companies are businesses, and they don’t like losing money. They may very well force a settlement, or leave the client to fend for himself. They also don’t like insuring high risk subjects.

LAMBA PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE CLAIM:
(1) Lamba Statement Of Claim
(2) Lamba Notice Of Intent To Defend

MOTION FOR SECURITY OF COSTS
(1) Gill V. Maciver Amended Notice of Motion – 26 Sept 2023
(2) Gill v Maciver – San Grewal’s appeal for support M54554.MPF.PointerGroup – October 2023.PDF
(3) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PbEewt3dAKqAT5Udp6BIIqrM9Y_AhPHv/view
(4) Ruling: Motion For Security Of Costs – Denied

KULVINDER GILL/ASHVINDER LAMBA CASE:
(1) Gill/Lamba Defamation Lawsuit December 2020
(2) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-c43/latest/rso-1990-c-c43.html#sec137.1_smooth
(3) Gill/Lamba Factum Of Medical Post Tristan Bronca
(4) Gill/Lamba Case Dismissed As A SLAPP
(5) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc1279/2022onsc1279.html#par17
(6) Gill/Lamba Notice of Appeal and Appellants’ Certificate
(7) Gill/Lamba Appeal – Notice of Intention to Dismiss Appeal for Delay, May 12, 2022
(8) Motion To Recuse – Badly Redacted -2022-06-17 – Notice
(9) Motion To Recuse – Badly Redacted -2022 – Motion Record
(10) Gill/Lamba July 15 Letter To Obtain New Counsel
(11) Gill/Lamba Case Conference Brief July 29, 2022
(12) Gill/Lamba Endorsement New Counsel Cost Submissions August 3, 2022
(13) Gill/Lamba Case $1.1 Million In Costs Ordered October 31, 2022
(14) Gill/Lamba Appeal Dismissed As Baseless By ONCA
(15) https://coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/item/22116/index.do

GILL/ATTARAN/UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA CASE:
(1) Gill-Attaran Statement Of Claim
(2) Gill Attaran Affidavit Of Service
(3) Gill-Attaran Notice Of Intent
(4) Gill-Attaran Motice To Recuse
(5) Gill-Ataran Motion To Recuse Motion Record

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Failed “Intimidation Lawsuit” Results In $132,268 Cost Award

December 11th, 2023, Justice Chalmers of the Ontario Superior Court threw out a $1.1 million defamation lawsuit brought against the anti-lockdown group, CSASPP. On February 3rd, he ordered $132,268.17 in costs to be paid within 30 days.

The lawsuit was filed June 28th, 2022 by “Mr. Bad Beyond Argument”, also known as the “King of the Struck Lawsuit”. For more on the CSASPP dismissal, background information is available here.

Justice Chalmers did more than just rule that this was done to stifle debate. He also said that this suit was brought to derail a Law Society complaint filed by Ms. Donna Toews, and to intimidate others from making complaints in the future. In short, this was a deliberate effort to sabotage the internal process of the LSO itself.

From the ruling of Justice Chalmers, dismissing the case

[89] With respect to the claim against Ms. Toews, I am of the view that “what is really going on” is an attempt to intimidate members of the public who may be considering making a complaint about the Plaintiff to the LSO. The effect of the action against Ms. Toews would be to obstruct the regulatory process. The harm this would cause in the LSO’s ability to receive and process complaints about lawyers is, in my view significant.

[98] For the reasons set out above, I find that the Plaintiff brought this action for the improper purpose of stifling debate with respect to his handling of a proposed class action that is being funded by public donations. I also note that the Claim was brought one day before the Plaintiff submitted a response to the LSO with respect to Ms. Toews complaint. I find that the Claim was brought for the improper purpose of limiting the LSO investigation, and to intimidate others from making any LSO complaints about him.

Suing someone to avoid a Law Society Complaint is grounds for disbarment. David Grant Isaac had his licence revoked in November 2022 over exactly this misconduct. But it’s not the only case here.

Multiple lawsuits filed in order to bury Toews complaint

It’s an oversimplification to just say that this is a defamation case. Ms. Toews apparently had the potential to do some real damage by contacting the LSO. It lead to 3 suits, so far. Who knows if more will be brought later?

Galati v. CSASPP et al.
Filed: June 28th, 2022
Case No.: CV-22-00683322-0000

Galati v. Law Society of Ontario et al.
Filed: July 12th, 2022
Case No.: CV-22-00683933-0000

Galati v. Law Society of Ontario et al.
Filed: July 31st, 2023
Case No.: CV-23-00703697-0000

Not only was Ms. Toews sued in order to subvert her LSO complaint, but the Law Society itself was sued itself, twice. And for what?

Taking her story at face value, she donated $1,000 to each of Action4Canada, and to Vaccine Choice Canada. Presumably, she wanted her money back, since neither was advancing an anti-lockdown case in any meaningful way. The value of her donations amounted to a mere $2,000. And it resulted in 3 overlapping lawsuits.

3 lawsuits were filed in order to bury the Toews complaint, over $2,000. Other than in Small Claims, who files a case over that amount? Who files 3 Claims over the same issue? One really has to wonder what people were afraid the LSO would have found during their investigation. What was really going on?

From Justice Chalmers regarding the costs

[7] The Defendants argue that there is no reason to depart from the presumption that the successful party is entitled to their full indemnity costs. The Defendants claim costs in the amount of $159,920.97 inclusive of counsel fee, disbursements, and H.S.T. They argue that the proceeding was complex. The evidence before the court consisted of more than 3,000 pages. The Plaintiff sued four Defendants and cross-examined the deponents of all affidavits tendered on the motion. The transcripts were over 500 pages. The Plaintiff also filed the affidavits of Lee Turner and Alicia Johnson that were subject to a preliminary objection by the Defendants. I found that the affidavits were irrelevant and inadmissible.

[14] I am not satisfied that the Plaintiff’s offer provides a basis for not awarding costs on a full indemnity basis. The offer requires the Defendants to retract and apologize for their comments made about the Plaintiff. In my reasons, I found that the Defendants’ speech was an expression in the public interest. I also found that the defences of justification and fair comment applied. Acceptance of the offer would have satisfied the Plaintiff’s objective in bringing this action, namely, to silence the Defendants from making an expression in the public interest. It is my view that the Defendants were justified in not accepting the Plaintiff’s offer.

[15] The Defendants were required to incur the costs of the motion to strike the action that I found was brought for an improper purpose. I am of the view that there is no reason to depart from the presumption that the moving party is entitled to its costs on the motion and the proceeding on a full indemnity basis.

[16] Although s. 137.1(7) provides that the presumption is that the successful moving party’s costs will be awarded on a full indemnity basis, the court must consider the fairness and reasonableness of the award having regard to the r. 57.01 factors.

[17] Here, the Plaintiff brought an action in which he seeks damages totalling $1,000,000. The s. 137.1 motion was complex and involved a significant number of documents. There had been cross examinations of 7 witnesses. There were over 3000 pages of documents on the motion, including 500 pages of transcripts. The issues involved expressions in the public interest and in particular comments with respect to the counsel retained to conduct public interest litigation. I am satisfied that the issues were of importance.

The case was a typical SLAPP, or strategic lawsuit against public participation. It was lawfare from the Plaintiff, using the legal system as a weapon in order to silence his critics. The case was unnecessary, and involved a huge amount of time and expense to deal with it.

Also, Justice Chalmers was not impressed by the “Settlement Offer”. He stated that it would have achieved the Plaintiff’s goal of forcibly silencing his critics.

Then there is this little gem:

[20] I find that the time spent by the Defendants’ lawyers was excessive. The total hours for the preparation of the motion record, including the review of the file and drafting affidavits was 45.8 hours for Mr. Gleason and 92.4 hours for Ms. Rauff. For the preparation of the reply record and preparing for and attending on the cross-examinations, and drafting the factum was 83 hours for Mr. Gleason and 121.3 for Ms. Rauff. From a review of the Costs Outline, it appears that there was an overlap of the work performed by Ms. Rauff and Mr. Gleason. Both docketed for each item of work. There does not appear to have been an efficient division of responsibility.

[22] It is my view that an appropriate counsel fee for the motions is $112,500. This is a reduction of approximately 25% of the Defendants’ lawyer’s actual counsel fee. With H.S.T. in the amount of $14,625 and disbursements of $5,143.17, the total costs are $132,268.17.

Gleason and Rauff may have been overbilling, but at least they won their case on the merits. The same cannot be said for the Nadon reference case. Gonzo logic!

As reported in the National Post, an Appeal of the CSASPP dismissal is already in the works. Appealing a SLAPP decision (unsuccessfully) is presumably on a full indemnity (100% of costs) basis. Can we expect another $50,000+ ruling to come as a result of this?

Who really funded these intimidation suits?

Now, we get to the interesting questions: who really financed the lawsuit against CSASPP? Who funded both of the suits against the Law Society?

Consider the following timeline:

October 11th, 2023: Justice Dow strikes the Claim against the Law Society (the first one), on the grounds that it doesn’t disclose a Cause of Action. He does permit a rewrite, which doesn’t appear to have happened. He also ordered $14,600 in costs to be paid to the LSO for legal costs.

December 11th, 2023: Justice Chalmers dismisses the Toews/CSASPP suit under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws, ruling that it was brought for improper purposes, and as an act of intimidation.

January 18th, 2024: CSASPP publishes the decision, and a lengthy commentary piece.

February 3rd, 2024: Justice Chalmers issues his ruling ordering that $132,000 be paid as a result of this failed lawsuit. While a reduction from the $160,000 sought, this is still a large sum of money.

February 4th, 2024: Action4Canada updates its website to announce that they will be doing an “expose” on the so-called agitators within the Freedom Movement.

February 7th, 2024: Kuntz and Gaw have their stream on Zoom, where they claim to be exposing a coordinated “military style” campaign to destroy their lawyer. There are complaints from observers on Zoom that comments are being deleted. The stream itself is a hit piece designed to deflect from the true nature of the criticism.

The Action4Canada, Vaccine Choice, Adelberg (Federal), and Take Action Canada cases were critiqued in detail. At no point is it stated or implied that it’s not worthwhile fighting martial law measures. Instead, the quality of the documents themselves is looked at. They clearly fail to follow the basics of procedure.

Just because someone is skeptical of long delays, and poorly drafted pleadings, it doesn’t mean they’re anti-freedom. It means they’re anti-grifter. There is a difference.

Are Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice Canada funding intimidation lawsuits, such as the one with CSASPP? Although they explicitly deny it, they do lament the drop in donations since 2021.

Interestingly, it’s stated that “he had to act in order to avoid getting disbarred”. Presumably, this refers to the LSO complaint from Ms. Toews. Suing her either for retaliation, or to subvert an investigation, is grounds for revoking a law licence. So, what exactly was so bad? Was there a fear that the LSO would force an audit of the books?

Who’s paying for the $14,600 over the struck suit against the LSO?
Who’s paying for the $132,268 over the dismissed SLAPP against CSASPP?
Who’s paying for the Appeal lodged against CSASPP and the Chalmers rulings?
Who’s paying for when the the second LSO suit is struck?
Who’s paying for the intimidation suit filed against Canuck Law?

Donors to Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice — if there are any left — really need to be asking these questions. Since neither organization is diligently pursuing a case against the Government, are funds being used to silence critics?

The anti-lockdown cases are considered “public interest litigation”. As the name implies, it’s society as a whole, not just private parties, who are impacted. Why the reluctance to be transparent?

A closing thought: if A4C/VCC money was used to sabotage the Toews LSO complaint and/or to silence legitimate inquiry, does it make them accomplices? Are donors now (unknowingly) complicit in illegal activity? Just something to think about.

CSASPP/RG DOCUMENTS (June 2022)
(1) CSASPP RG Statement Of Claim
(2) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 1
(3) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 2
(4) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 3
(5) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 1
(6) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 2
(7) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 3
(8) CSASPP RG Moving Party Supplemental Motion Record
(9) CSASPP RG Moving Party Record Motion To Strike
(10) CSASPP RG Plaintiffs Responding Record Motion To Strike
(11) CSASPP RG Transcript Brief
(12) CSASPP RG Moving Party Factum (Arguments)
(13) CSASPP RG Responding Plaintiff Factum
(14) CSASPP RG Moving Parties Reply Factum
(15) CSASPP RG Reasons For Judgement
(16) CanLII Posting Of Decision

1ST LAW SOCIETY OF ONTARIO CLAIM (July 2022)
(1) Law Society Of Ontario Statement Of Claim
(2) Law Society Of Ontario Intent To Defend
(3) Law Society Of Ontario Amended Statement Of Claim
(4) Law Society Of Ontario Requisition For Amended Claim
(5) Law Society Of Ontario Motion Record, To Strike
(6) Law Society Of Ontario Moving Party Factum To Strike
(7) Law Society Of Ontario Plaintiff Responding Factum

2ND LAW SOCIETY OF ONTARIO CLAIM (July 2023)
(1) Law Society Of Ontario Second Statement Of Claim

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Take Action Canada’s Case Conference Adjourned Indefinitely, Still No Activity

January 24, 2024, the Ontario First Responders suit (organized by Take Action Canada), briefly appeared in Court for a case conference. It had been expected that this was to set down dates to bring a Motion to Strike the pleading, since it didn’t follow the Rules of Civil Procedure, or for Summary Judgement.

The lawsuit was coordinated in the Fall of 2021, but nothing was actually filed until March 1, 2023. Here we are, almost another year later.

For context, this is a lawsuit involving about 100 current and former: (a) police officers; (b) medical personnel; (c) firefighters; (d) city workers; (e) transit workers; and (f) related employees. They objected to the new requirements to take the injections in order to stay employed. However, there were a few major obstacles to this going forward.

This is not to say that coercing or pressuring people to take experimental injections, for a non-existent virus, was a legitimate move. It certainly wasn’t. Realistically though, this case will have some serious problems.

First, most — if not all — of the Plaintiffs are either employed by some level of Government, or have some kind of union or collective agreement. This means they typically have the right to grieve, which can lead to arbitration. However, they don’t necessarily have the right to sue.

Second, the pleading was written so poorly that it would likely be struck in its entirety. There are specific rules (like 25.06 in Ontario), which lay out the requirements to plead facts and particulars. Simply making bare accusations without specifics isn’t enough.

If prospective Plaintiffs are required to grieve, there are a few limited ways they can get into Court.

(1) If the grievance process is corrupted or unworkable, then the Court may allow the person in anyway. However, the burden will be on them to show that they made every effort to go through proper channels. Keeping letters, emails, texts, etc… would be very handy to have as evidence.

(2) If the matter has already gone to to adjudication or arbitration, and was unfair, a person can sometimes come to Court and ask for a review. This is analogous to appealing a verdict.

However, it doesn’t appear from the pleading that any of the Plaintiffs attempted (1). And (2) wouldn’t apply since there was no internal adjudication.

To be fair, the Amended Statement of Claim does list some 35 workers who sought to get exemptions from the injection requirement. But it still doesn’t say that they tried the formal process to grieve.

The injection mandates happened in 2021, and we are now into 2024. The Plaintiffs presumably let their ability to grieve lapse a long time ago. And even if they were to hire new counsel now, they may be time barred by the Statute of Limitations from refiling in Court. To be blunt, they have no options now.

In the big picture, a lot has been going on, it’s important to remember that this isn’t the only lawsuit happening. Plenty of bogus claims are being filed, with clients oblivious to the realities.

Timeline of major events in this matter

July 6, 2020: Vaccine Choice Canada files an $11 million lawsuit against Federal, Provincial and Municipal authorities in Ontario. The suit is almost 200 pages, incoherent, unintelligible, and fails to meet the basic requirement of Ontario Civil Procedure. Rather than immediately bringing a Motion to Strike, the Parties are okay with letting it sit idly for years. Despite the media blitz, and promises of an emergency mask injunction, there’s no activity.

Summer, 2020: Action4Canada begins regular fundraising for a challenge out in B.C., but it would be approximately a year before anything was filed.

April 20, 2021: Organized by Police On Guard, group of police officers file a Notice of Application, requesting declaratory relief and clarification about what their jobs actually involved. To date, it hasn’t had a single Court appearance, and counsel and admitted that it’s “moot” and not being pursued.

April 20, 2021: Children’s Health Defense (Canada) files a Notice of Application, requesting declaratory relief and clarification about what their jobs actually involved. To date, it hasn’t had a single Court appearance, and counsel and admitted that it’s “moot” and not being pursued. Additionally, these 2 Applications are virtual clones of each other.

August 17, 2021: The Action4Canada lawsuit is finally filed in Vancouver. It terms of being incoherent and unintelligible, it outdoes the VCC case in every way. It’s almost 400 pages, and is almost completely irrelevant in terms of pleading for CIVIL remedies in British Columbia.

Fall 2021: Take Action Canada starts to organize a challenge for “Ontario First Responders” who are going to be impacted by injection mandates. These include police, firefighters, paramedics, and transit workers. Prospective clients are asked to pay $1,500 each, for work that is being sold as top rate. (See archives here and here).

Fall 2021: Take Action Canada puts out this hit piece, gloating over the fact that this site was sued for millions for critiquing these anti-lockdown cases. (See archive here). Keep in mind that despite this, TAC hasn’t actually filed their lawsuit, and they won’t for a very long time.

May 25, 2022: The Adelberg (Federal) suit is filed, challenging injection mandates for Federal employees, and workers in Federally regulated industries. Over 600 Plaintiffs are expected to pay a retainer fee of $1,000 each, making the initial amount over $600,000.

May 31, 2022: The Action4Canada Motion to Strike is heard, with the decision being reserved, or deferred.

June 28, 2022: Ted Kuntz contacts the Law Society of Ontario and tries to assure them that there’s no basis for the Toews complaint. See page 9. He defends the practice of “not revealing [VCC’s] litigation strategy to the general public”. In a backhanded way, he admits that Toews — and everyone else — have been kept in the dark about what’s been going on.

June 28, 2022: CSASPP is sued for $1.1 million. This is (partly) for criticising the lack of activity in the Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice Canada cases. But the real goal was to subvert and undermine the Toews complaint to the Law Society of Ontario, requesting an investigation of donations. Get the backstory here and here.

June 29, 2022: The Law Society is contacted to inform them of the lawsuit against Toews, CSASPP, and its leadership. This is done to further shut down the Toews complaint.

July 12, 2022: The Law Society of Ontario is sued. This is another effort to silence the Toews complaint, and make sure it’s not heard.

July 13, 2022: Before CSASPP and the LSO are even served, the idiotic decision is made to announce their respective cases on a VCC livestream. It takes a special kind of stupid to admit publicly that someone was sued for instigating a LSO complaint. For obvious reasons this isn’t allowed, as it would allow lawyers to bypass complaints, simply by suing whoever made them.

Keep in mind, suing someone in order to ward off a Law Society complaint is something that causes lawyers to get disbarred. There is precedence for this. Suing the LSO itself is even worse.

August 29, 2022: The Action4Canada case is struck in its entirety as “bad beyond argument”. Justice Ross states that it fails to meet any minimum standards of professionalism or coherence. That said, a rewrite of the Notice of Civil Claim is allowed.

September 28, 2022: Instead of filing a proper Claim, Action4Canada appeals the ruling instead. It centered around what types of remedies a Civil Court could pursue. Problem is, none of the necessary legislation exists to allow for such remedies

January 17, 2023: Vaccine Choice Canada finally has their first Court appearance, for their 191 page Claim filed July 6, 2020. That’s right, it sat idly for 2 1/2 years. That’s on top of the October 24, 2019 lawsuit, which hasn’t had a single appearance in over 4 years.

January 19, 2023: The Adelberg Motion to Strike is heard, with the decision reserved.

February 21, 2023: The Adelberg (Federal) case is struck as “bad beyond argument”.

February 24, 2023: Angry and disgruntled clients leak this letter, which demands another $1,000 each in order to appeal the Adelberg ruling. Despite the gross incompetence of counsel, clients are expected to pay more money.

Reminder: despite all of the obvious delays and shoddy work produced to this point, the suit from Take Action Canada hasn’t yet been filed.

March 1, 2023: The Statement of Claim is eventually filed in the FR/TAC case, nearly a year and a half after injection mandates came into effect in Ontario, and elsewhere. Aside from changing the names, it’s about 90% cut-and-paste from the Adelberg (Federal) case, which had just been thrown out. It also has many of the same defects as the Action4Canada case, also struck.

March 11, 2023: Sandra Sable (who helps run Take Action Canada), and Tanya Gaw (Action4Canada) swear out Affidavits against the CSASPP anti-SLAPP Motion. The content is interesting, to say the least. The timing is also curious, as it comes only days after the TAC suit is eventually filed. A cynic may wonder if it was done as leverage in order to get the Sable Affidavit out.

March 13, 2023: Ted Kuntz of Vaccine Choice Canada swears out an Affidavit against CSASPP as well. In it, Kuntz displays anger at having being forced to explain to donors what’s going on. Apparently, he preferred to keep them — and opposing counsel — in the dark about the details of their case.

July 18, 2023: An Amended Statement of Claim is filed in the FR/TAC case. Paragraphs 9A and 22A outline some 35 employees who apparently sought exemptions, but were denied. These changes appear to be an attempt to fix some of the defects that were present in the Adelberg case.

July 31, 2023: The Law Society of Ontario is sued for a second time, while the Toews/CSASPP and other LSO complaints are still pending. While VCC/A4C/TAC and others are assuring clients and donors that their cases are being advanced, counsel is ensuring he’s forced out of the profession.

August 16, 2023: The City of Hamilton files a Notice of Intent to Defend against the FR/TAC suit. This is not the same as filing a Statement of Defence, just an indication that they will at some point.

November 24, 2023: This letter is sent to the Plaintiffs in the FR/TAC case. Presumably, they weren’t happy, and it was soon leaked. This is a demand letter for another $4,500 (per Plaintiff), otherwise, the suit may be discontinued. Considering the number of Plaintiffs, this would be close to another half million. The deadline was given as January 24, 2024. Their lawyer had already received about $150,000 from clients, and had done nothing to advance their interests.

While there were questions about the letter — as it was unsigned — the hearing did happen (sort of) on that date.

January 24, 2024: The FR/TAC suit has their first case conference, which is adjourned. There’s still be no meaningful activity, up to this point. No evidence has been sworn, no Motions or Applications filed, no witnesses called, or other hearings. As with the above cases, there’s no urgency whatsoever to bring this case forward. According to the November 2023 letter, it was to set dates for a Summary Judgement Motion.

January 30, 2024: Vaccine Choice Canada will finally have their Motion to Strike heard, after the case had been dormant for about 3 1/2 years. It’s to be held over 2 days.

This timeline matters, as there was an abundance of information available prior to Take Action Canada filing anything. It doesn’t seem that any consideration was given.

Now, let’s hear from Sandra and Ted themselves!

From the Affidavit of Sandra Sable

In her Affidavit (from the CSASPP case) Sable blames the organization, its leadership, and this website for the comments criticising the other anti-lockdown cases. She specifically states that it caused many prospective clients to either withhold funds, or to demand refunds. In short, these reviews (allegedly) threatened the financial viability of the Ontario First Responders lawsuit.

There is another way to look at this. Sable knew ahead of time that the sort of lawsuits being filed didn’t follow the basics of Civil Procedure. She also knew that they were needlessly delayed, preventing real justice. The truth was staring her in the face, yet she pushed on, soliciting for more clients.

There’s no mention of why none of the 100 or so Plaintiffs never went through the formal grievance process before attempting to litigate. At least, it’s not spelled out if they did. This is very basic employment law.

In regard to Take Action Canada, there’s no explanation offered as to why it took almost 18 months to file a Statement of Claim. It wasn’t some novel pleading, but a rehash of old ones. Beyond that, this case was a rehash of content thrown out, and more than once.

Instead of doing due diligence, Sable lashed out this site, and at CSASPP.

She bragged in 2021 about this site being sued for defamation, and sarcastically says “Good luck, Canuck Law”. Well, thanks Sandy! Good luck when you get sued for fraud, or at least negligence.

From the Affidavit of Ted Kuntz

Ted Kuntz from Vaccine Choice Canada swore an Affidavit in the CSASPP case, and an almost identical one here. And it also is very interesting.

At paragraph 20, he laments the CSASPP/Canuck postings which caused VCC members to demand answers. Although he doesn’t specify, the comments truthfully stated that there had been no meaningful activity since the July 6, 2020 filing. Understandably, clients and donors wanted answers.

Instead, Kuntz comes up with the excuse that VCC didn’t want to expose their litigation strategy, nor reveal solicitor-client information. However, the privileged information is a red-herring, as no one was demanding the release of confidential data. But there were legitimate concerns about the total inactivity, and shoddy pleading of the Claim overall. Clients and donors had real questions.

The defence of “not wanting to reveal the litigation strategy” is absurd. Anyone who has ever been involved in litigation knows you have to show your cards well in advance. The cloak-and-dagger approach isn’t received too well. Springing last minute surprises on opposing counsel is referred to as “sandbagging”, a practice Judges almost universally reject.

At paragraph 25, Kuntz indignantly rejects the idea the VCC is just another “fundraising arm”. He states that it is just a group who hired a lawyer to pursue a case.

However, this is directly contradicted by Exhibit “C”, on page 18.

Exhibit “C”, page 20, Kuntz references a newsletter which stated that VCC was involved with coordinating litigation before the CPSO, or College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. It implies that VCC has helped to finance these cases as well.

For reference, none of the CPSO challenges ever went anywhere. Attempts to remove from internal investigations, and get them into Court, always failed for “prematurity”. This isn’t to condone the CPSO’s heavy handed approach, but they were doomed from the start. Similar to suing union or Government employers, it would be necessary to demonstrate that internal methods were corrupt or inadequate. That didn’t happen.

Exhibit “C”, page 20, Kuntz states that “in concert with the overall plan, other legal actions” had been filed. Page 21, item 4, it’s specifically listed that doctors who have been maligned on social media have also filed suit. This presumably refers to Kulvinder Gill’s December 2020 and March 2021 defamation lawsuits.

Gill and Ashinder Lamba are suing former counsel in a Brampton Court, but it’s a very small amount, less than $6,000. This is probably what they had to pay out of pocket personally. It seems unlikely their joint case was performed on contingency, since it was so weak. There was no prospect of winning. This raises the question of who paid the rest of the bills. And there are a few obvious suspects.

Their $12.75 million case from 2020 was thrown out as a SLAPP, and in October 2022, a cost award of $1.1 million came down. So, who really orchestrated this?

For someone who objects to the term “fundraising arm”, it’s odd that Kuntz is so willing to get involved in other litigation. It’s also implied that Kuntz and VCC arranged (and financed) Kulvinder Gill’s abusive SLAPPs. These were filed in order to silence critics on social media. Perhaps this is the real reason that there was great reluctance to reveal any litigation strategy.

Looking at Exhibit “A”, it also appears that Kuntz contacted the LSO on June 28, 2022 regarding the Toews complaint. It looks like an attempt to undermine it, and consequently, stop the LSO from investigating donations or financing.

Champerty and maintenance aren’t allowed, and for good reason.

Some final thoughts

It should be mentioned that this isn’t to blindly go after everyone associated with these organizations. Surely, there are many good people who just wanted their livelihoods back. And who can blame them?

And there is a natural urge to want to fight back, which is what drives people to go into Court in the first place. This is perfectly understandable.

Nonetheless, the reality cannot be ignored.

Take away all of the smoke and mirrors. What’s left?

The Ontario First Responders case is just another in the long list of frivolous “anti-lockdown” cases designed to go nowhere. This isn’t just sloppiness, as no lawyer could possibly be this bad, especially after being smacked down repeatedly in Court. If there ever is a Motion to Strike here, expect another “bad beyond argument” ruling. Objectively speaking, none of these will ever get to Trial.

There isn’t even a follow-up date booked for the First Responders/Take Action Canada case to return. Again, injection mandates were in 2021.

How much money has been raised, and through whom?

Was donor money used to finance the CSASPP/Canuck defamation suits?

Instead of getting angry at sites like this one, it should be directed at those who funnel other people’s time, money and energy into such dead end ventures.

(1) https://takeactioncanada.ca/
(2) https://twitter.com/Takeactioncan
(3) Ontario EMS Statement Of Claim
(4) Ontario EMS Amended Statement Of Claim
(5) Ontario EMS Requisition To Amend
(6) Ontario EMS Notice Of Intent To Defend
(7) Ontario EMS Demand For More Money

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$500,000 Claim Against LSO Struck For Incoherent, Unintelligible Pleading

The Ontario Superior Court struck (threw out) a case against the Law Society of Ontario because it was so poorly written. Both the original and amended versions were struck.

In fairness, Justice Dow has permitted another rewrite, just as Justice Ross had done with the Action4Canada disaster.

What makes this Claim even more absurd was the fact that it was predicated on the actions of non-parties. Specifically, various people had made complaints to the LSO, which regulates the legal profession. To clarify, the LSO itself was sued, because other people made complaints. And it wasn’t just sued once.

The Claim also made contradictory allegations. It stated that the Law Society was “negligent” and “failed to carefully read” the complaints in question. It also accused the LSO of acting in malice, in bad faith, and with intent to harm. Either the LSO could have been negligent, or it could have acted with malice. It cannot simultaneously be both.

Moreover, Section 9 of the Law Society Act immunizes the LSO against legal action for actions taken in “good faith”. Claims for negligence are also barred.

Liability of benchers, officers and employees
9. No action or other proceedings for damages shall be instituted against the Treasurer or any bencher, official of the Society or person appointed in Convocation for any act done in good faith in the performance or intended performance of any duty or in the exercise or in the intended exercise of any power under this Act, a regulation, a by-law or a rule of practice and procedure, or for any neglect or default in the performance or exercise in good faith of any such duty or power.

It’s baffling why anyone would plead negligence or sloppiness in such a Claim, knowing that it would lead to it being either struck or dismissed.

The July 2022 version was amended in October, but it didn’t fix the problems.

As for the Claim’s substance, 8 out of the 9 LSO complaints in question were dismissed. The one remaining came from Donna Toews, a former donor to both Action4Canada and Vaccine Choice Canada. She contacted the LSO to inquire about what had happened with the money she gave.

If the following content sounds familiar, it should. “Mr. Bad Beyond Argument” filed three (3) related lawsuits designed to bury the Toews complaint once and for all. Here’s the background reading on the CSASPP case and verdict.

There Are 3 Different Lawsuits Concerning The Toews Complaint

(1) June 28, 2022: Galati v. Toews, Warner, Gandhi and CSASPP
Court File No: CV-22-00683322-0000

(2) July 12, 2022: Galati v. Law Society of Ontario (LSO) et al.
Court File No: CV-22-00683933-0000

(3) July 31, 2023: Galati v. Law Society of Ontario (LSO) et al.
Court File No: CV-23-00703697-0000

3 separate lawsuits were filed to ensure that the Law Society of Ontario would never investigate the Toews complaint. Why? An obvious explanation is the possible consequences. The LSO is the regulator, and it has the power to force open a lawyer’s books. In theory, all of these cases — not just VCC and A4C — could have been audited, leading to all kinds of problems down the road.

(1) has been dismissed under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws. An Appeal is said to already be in the works, though it will go nowhere.

(2) has now been struck in its entirety. As of the time of writing, no amended Statement of Claim has been filed, and one may not be coming.

(3) hasn’t been in Court yet, and the lawyers were likely waiting to see the outcome of (2) before deciding how to proceed.

Of course, one could argue that suing this site in September 2021 was also designed to shut down discussion over the status and financing of the anti-lockdown cases. The glaring flaws in those actions were described almost perfectly, including the various portions of Civil Procedure.

Rules Of Civil Procedure Not Followed In Drafting Case

Material Facts
25.06(1) Every pleading shall contain a concise statement of the material facts on which the party relies for the claim or defence, but not the evidence by which those facts are to be proved

Pleading Law
25.06(2) A party may raise any point of law in a pleading, but conclusions of law may be pleaded only if the material facts supporting them are pleaded.

Nature of Act or Condition of Mind
25.06(8) Where fraud, misrepresentation, breach of trust, malice or intent is alleged, the pleading shall contain full particulars, but knowledge may be alleged as a fact without pleading the circumstances from which it is to be inferred.

The Rules of Civil Procedure are pretty clear, and fairly basic. In order to file a lawsuit, the facts (details) must be outlined in an organized manner. Moreover “giving particulars” refers to the requirement to spell out in detail the allegations.

It’s not enough to make bare accusations. The who, what, where, when, why and how must also be laid out. Defendants can’t be left guessing about what they have to respond to. In cases where Charter or Constitutional breaches are alleged, this applies even more so.

Instead, the Statement of Claim simply states the tests for (most) of the torts, but without pleading facts or giving adequate information about how this would apply. The LSO lawyers at the hearing referred to this as a “factual vacuum”, meaning there’s no information to rebut. They’re not wrong.

It boggles the mind that a “top constitutional lawyer” with decades of experience can’t draft a Claim or Charter challenge in a coherent manner. Clients really aren’t getting their money’s worth. However, saying this publicly can lead to a defamation lawsuit.

None Of The (Alleged) Causes Of Action Properly Pleaded

[21] First, conspiracy, arose from the defendants having “jumped on a co-conspirator bandwagon” (at paragraph 61 of the Statement of Claim). With the parties in the related action, this occurred by accepting the complaints without conducting appropriate research or investigation in a fair and reasonable manner. As submitted by the defendant, such conduct, assuming it to be true, would amount to negligence. This does not meet the test for bad faith or exclude the immunity provided by Section 9 of the Law Society Act, supra. Something beyond that is required.

[22] Regarding the claim of abuse of process, the claim against these defendants is it “magnified and augmented” conduct by the complainants “by putting the plaintiff through the process of a response” (at paragraph 65 of the Statement of Claim). I cannot find that the actual complaint fulfilled the third element of the four elements of this cause of action (see Harris v. GlaxoSmithKline Inc., 2010 ONCA 872 (at paragraph 27). That is, the Law Society “took or made a definite act or threat in furtherance of the improper purpose”. The Law Society received a complaint, advised Mr. Galati and, in six of the nine incidents, confirmed the Law Society would not be taking any action. In two of the remaining three, it advised Mr. Galati, upon receiving his response, no further action was being taken. The final complaint has been set aside pending the outcome of litigation.

[23] Regarding the interference with economic interests, I accept the Supreme Court of Canada statement of the elements requiring an intentional infliction of economic injury by the use of unlawful means against a third party (see A.I. Enterprises Ltd. v. Bram Enterprises Ltd., 2014 SCC 12 at paragraph 23). That is, Mr. Galati suffered economic injury by the Law Society’s use of unlawful means by the defendants in the related action. Further, “unlawful means” are to be interpreted narrowly and must constitute an actionable civil wrong. That is, an actionable wrong was committed by the Law Society against the parties to the related action. Such conduct is not described in paragraphs 67 or 68 of the Statement of Claim.

[24] Regarding a breach of fiduciary duty, what is required is “an undertaking by the fiduciary, express or implied, to act in accordance with the duty of loyalty reposed on him or her” (see Alberta v. Elder Advocates of Alberta Society, 2011 SCC 24 at paragraph 30). The cause of action arises when the alleged fiduciary, here the Law Society, forsakes the interest of the beneficiary, here Mr. Galati, in favour of others. Here, the Law Society is the regulator of Mr. Galati’s profession and owes a duty to protect the public interest. Paragraph 69 of the Statement of Claim fails to plead how that became subordinate to any fiduciary duty owed by the defendants to Mr. Galati.

[25] Regarding negligence or negligent investigation, judicial interpretation of Section 9 of the Law Society Act, supra would appear to be a full defence (see Robson v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2016 ONSC 5579 at paragraphs 40-41, affirmed 2017 ONCA 468). The pleading requires allegations that somehow remove that barrier, as what is contained in paragraph 70 of the Statement of Claim, is insufficient.

[26] Regarding intimidation, the three elements of this tort require material facts to support how informing Mr. Galati that he did not need to respond to the complaints fulfilled these elements. Paragraphs 71 to 73 of the Statement of Claim required greater particulars that set out the specific basis for not advising him of its receipt of complaints that it has concluded were so without merit that his response was not required.

[27] Regarding the Charter challenges under Sections 7 and 15, material facts are required about how or what specifically was the conduct by the defendants that resulted in deprivation of Mr. Galati’s Section 7 rights and further, that same occurred in a manner contrary to the principles of fundamental justice.

[28] Similarly, it is insufficient to rely on Section 15 of the Charter by identifying one’s ethnic origin or religion. Mr. Galati must connect how these characteristics resulted in discrimination and how he did not receive the “equal benefit of the law without discrimination”.

[29] Finally, Mr. Galati’s pleading (at paragraphs 76 and 77 of the Statement of Claim) challenging Section 49.3 of the Law Society Act, supra, must address how not requiring or applying the Section 49.3 power somehow gives standing to challenge the constitutionality of that section. Further, to proceed as required, the required notice of constitutional question to the Attorney General of Ontario must be delivered.

It’s also pretty funny that at paragraph 30, Justice Dow urges that the Plaintiff “reflect on the wisdom” of filing a further amended version. He knows the suit is baseless, and tactfully suggests reconsideration.

Brief Timeline Of Major Events

January 2021: CSASPP emails Dan Dicks in order to promote their proposed suit, and to pitch it as a better investment than Action4Canada.

June 2021: CSASPP puts the section up on their FAQ, supposedly to quell constant inquiries about who they are connected to, and what there role is in other cases.

January 15, 2022: the original Toews LSO complaint is put forward to the LSO, although it appears that it wasn’t immediately accepted.

May 19, 2022: The LSO finally forwards the Toews complaint and demands a response.

June 28, 2022: The $1.1 million dollar suit is filed against CSASPP and its people

June 29, 2022: A letter is sent to the LSO, informing them that Donna Toews has been sued, and that the Court will effectively be deciding the issue.

July 12, 2022: The Law Society itself is sued, and the Toews complaint makes up large part of it. One can assume this was done to further thwart any investigation into the complaint. The suit demands $500,000 in damages, and is very poorly written.

July 13, 2022: There’s an appearance on a livestream with Vaccine Choice Canada, bragging about the CSASPP and LSO suits which have just been filed. It’s plausible to view this as a publicity stunt. Supposedly, neither CSASPP nor the LSO had actually been served by this point.

October 9, 2022: An amended Statement of Claim is filed against the LSO, despite the fact the the Motion to Strike had already been initiated. This isn’t permitted.

October 12, 2022: CSASPP and the LSO appear in Court on the same day to set down dates to throw out their respective cases. CSASPP’s Motion is based on s.137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (anti-SLAPP). The LSO Motion is based on Rule 21 of Civil Procedure (failing to state a cause of action). Both are to be heard the next Autumn.

The next several months is a document exchange of the papers needed to carry out the both the anti-SLAPP Motion and LSO Motions. Both are attached below.

July 28, 2023: CSASPP files their Factum, or written arguments. This is a Friday, and it’s interesting to see what happens the following Monday.

July 31, 2023: The Law Society is sued for a second time, and it’s largely a rehash of the first one. Another $500,000 is sought. It’s possible this was done to “keep open” litigation against the LSO, assuming the first case is thrown out.

September 12, 2023: CSASPP’s Motion to dismiss is heard, with the ruling under reserve.

September 21, 2023: LSO’s Motion to strike is heard, the ruling under reserve.

October 11, 2023: The Claim against the LSO is struck in its entirety for not disclosing a reasonable cause of action, and for inadequate pleading. However, Justice Dow does allow the pleading to be rewritten, for what is presumably the last time.

December 11, 2023: The suit against CSASPP is dismissed as a SLAPP. The Court finds that the suit was brought for the improper purposes of stifling debate, and to intimidate people from filing LSO complaints. In essence, it’s a finding of professional misconduct.

So, who’s funding the cases against CSASPP and the LSO?

A question that has been asked is whether there is some outside source financing the CSASPP and LSO lawsuits. Consider the following: at least 3 clients have submitted evidence in support of the defamation suit. Presumably, they don’t want the money to stop coming in.

Tanya Gaw of Action4Canada
Ted Kuntz of Vaccine Choice Canada
Sandra Sable of Take Action Canada

The Action4Canada, Vaccine Choice Canada and Take Action Canada cases have been critiqued at length already. They are all horribly pleaded, and none of them will ever get to Trial.

But these “activists” don’t demand accountability from their counsel. Instead, they are quite willing to aid and abet with frivolous defamation lawsuits. These are SLAPPs, designed to silence dissent and discussion on the public interest litigation they fundraise for.

In the case of Donna Toews and her LSO complaint, the objective is clearly to ensure that no investigation ever takes place. Lawyers have been disbarred for such acts before.

Are Gaw, Kuntz and Sable merely offering support (Affidavits) to go after CSASPP? Or have they provided financial backing as well? Are they going to cover the costs when these cases are thrown out?

It’s worth noting that all 3 published news about the suit against this site in 2021. Gaw and Kuntz swore Affidavits against an anti-SLAPP Motion as well. This appears to go past simply being clients.

The anti-lockdown lawsuits are a multi-million dollar industry. This is why so many are eager to silence dissent. No one wants to see the money dry up.

Will there be another attempt at suing the LSO? We’ll have to see.

CSASPP/RG DOCUMENTS (June 2022)
(1) CSASPP RG Statement Of Claim
(2) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 1
(3) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 2
(4) CSASPP RG Moving Party Motion Record Volume 3
(5) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 1
(6) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 2
(7) CSASPP RG Responding Motion Record Volume 3
(8) CSASPP RG Moving Party Supplemental Motion Record
(9) CSASPP RG Moving Party Record Motion To Strike
(10) CSASPP RG Plaintiffs Responding Record Motion To Strike
(11) CSASPP RG Transcript Brief
(12) CSASPP RG Moving Party Factum (Arguments)
(13) CSASPP RG Responding Plaintiff Factum
(14) CSASPP RG Moving Parties Reply Factum
(15) CSASPP RG Reasons For Judgement
(16) CanLII Posting Of Decision

1ST LAW SOCIETY OF ONTARIO CLAIM (July 2022)
(1) Law Society Of Ontario Statement Of Claim
(2) Law Society Of Ontario Intent To Defend
(3) Law Society Of Ontario Amended Statement Of Claim
(4) Law Society Of Ontario Requisition For Amended Claim
(5) Law Society Of Ontario Motion Record, To Strike
(6) Law Society Of Ontario Moving Party Factum To Strike
(7) Law Society Of Ontario Plaintiff Responding Factum

2ND LAW SOCIETY OF ONTARIO CLAIM (July 2023)
(1) Law Society Of Ontario Second Statement Of Claim

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The Freedom Lawsuits: How Much Money Has Been Thrown Away On Them?

Throughout 2020 and 2021, people were understandably desperate. They wanted their lives and livelihoods back, and who could blame them? They were willing to open their wallets to contribute to lawsuits they viewed as a means to restore normalcy.

Unfortunately, it seems that many contributed — either through donations or retainer fees — to cases that never stood a chance. Either: (a) they were never filed; (b) filing was delayed unnecessarily; (c) they weren’t followed up in a diligent way; (d) the pleadings were incoherent; (e) the Court lacked jurisdiction; or (f) some combination of the above.

Back in 2020, Odessa from Liberty Talk claimed that 75% of donations received from that podcast would be forwarded to fund lawsuits from Vaccine Choice Canada and Action4Canada. She said that they were “really good legal cases”. Once eventually filed, the A4C case was struck as “bad beyond argument”, because it was so poorly written. The VCC case remained dormant for 2 1/2 years, before dates were set for a Motion to Strike.

Keep in mind, this is just a small sample. Another alarming trend is for lawyers to file suits against employers in government and/or unionized workplaces. Typically, there is no inherent right to sue, as there are “grievance” options available. Even moderately competent lawyers should be aware of this lack of jurisdiction.

Another trend is for lawyers to not actually ask for damages, but to seek declaratory relief after orders have already expired. This has led to several rulings of “mootness”.

Other cases included suing people for “defamation” in the attempt to shut down opposing viewpoints. These are SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. Pretty strange for freedom lovers to be against free speech.

How much money has actually been thrown away?

Here are some partial answers.

Item Number Party/Client Amount Raised
1 CRC (PayPal donations) $1,000,000
2 Action4Canada $400,000+
3 Federal Workers Vaxx Pass $600,000+
4 Federal Workers Vaxx Pass (Appeal) $600,000+
5 Federal Workers Vaxx Injury $600,000+
6 Take Action Canada $150,000+
7 Vaccine Choice Canada (2019) ?
8 Vaccine Choice Canada (2020) ?
9 Police On Guard ?
10 Children’s Health Defense (Canada) ?
11 Privacy Is Your Right ?
12 Kulvinder Gill Defamation #1 ?
13 Kulvinder Gill Defamation #2 ?
14 Byram Bridle ?
15 CPSO Challenges ?
TOTAL N/A $3,350,000+

As should be apparent, there isn’t data for many of these. Still, there’s over $3,000,000 just from a handful of cases. Let’s dive a bit deeper.

1. Constitutional Rights Centre, PayPal Donations, $1,000,000

The above is Paragraph 47, Page 50 of the Respondent’s/Plaintiff’s Motion Record, filed in March 2023. This was the CSASPP lawsuit referenced earlier.

  • $179,505 (September to December 2020)
  • $786,706 (2021 calendar year)
  • $43,878 (2022 calendar year)
  • $4,537 (Up to March 2023)

Taking these numbers at face value, it would mean that the CRC raised roughly $1,000,000 from September 2020 through March 2023. There’s no breakdown as to how much went into each (case) account. On the surface, it looks like one giant pot. Pretty lucrative, considering all the suits that emerged were complete garbage.

Familiar with the Wayback Machine? It’s a mainstream archiving site that captures websites at certain times, even if the content is no longer available. Some of the recent business ventures include:

There were even donations sought at one point to finance a public inquiry. It’s unclear how much money came in, or whatever became of that.

Also, donations were sought a few years back for a B.C. doctor’s case that doesn’t appear to have materialized. This isn’t the Action4Canada suit.

Remember: these are just donations, and don’t take retainer fees into account.

2. Action4Canada, $400,000+

August 2021, Action4Canada filed their 391 page Notice of Civil Claim. It was incoherent, rambling, sought remedies outside the jurisdiction of a Civil Court, and was full of information about non-parties. Unsurprisingly, it was struck in its entirety as “bad beyond argument“.

While Justice Ross did allow the Claim to be rewritten, and provided substantial guidance, the decision was appealed instead. This is absurd, as the B.C. Court of Appeals isn’t going to rule that remedies outside the jurisdiction of a Civil Court can be sought.

Where does the $400,000 estimate come from?

According to financial data that was leaked, there was a payment of $200,000 to cover legal expenses April 29, 2022. See page 10. On May 5, an equivalent amount was transferred to cover it. This is not the full amount.

Tanya and other members of Action4Canada stated that a 50% retainer had been required upfront (meaning in 2020). If $200,000 is to cover an outstanding portion, then the retainer would have to have been at least $200,000 as well. It’s also been stated publicly that this was the amount sought.

In a November 2022 update, Action4Canada was again soliciting donations, presumably to finance this “unexpected” appeal. This would be in addition to the $200,000 retainer, and the $200,000 “payment” in the Spring of 2022. Once the BCCA throws out the appeal, presumably a new Claim would be filed.

Court documents are available at the bottom here.

3. Federal Injection Pass Challenge, $600,000+

This was the high profile case of over 600: (a) Federal employees; and (b) employees of Federally regulated industries. It was struck as “bad beyond argument” for failing to follow even the basic requirements of pleadings.

Why $600,000? There were over 600 Plaintiffs, and all had been required to sign a retainer agreement and put up $1,000 each to get started.

There was another problem for about 2/3 of the Plaintiffs: as Federal employees, they have the right to grieve, but not to sue their employer. This is laid out in the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act. Now, there is some “residual jurisdiction”, if the grievance process can be shown to be unworkable or corrupt. However, that would require a suit that was well written.

(1) Federal Court Vaccine Mandate Challenge
(2) Federal Vaccine Passport Challenge Retainer Agreement
(3) Federal Court Vaccine Mandate Challenge Motion To Strike
(4) Federal Court Vaccine Mandate Challenge Affidavit Of Service
(5) Federal Court Vaccine Mandate Challenge Responding Motion Record
(6) Federal Court Of Canada Rules
(7) Federal Court Decision On Motion To Strike (Archive)
(8) https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/522970/index.do

4. Federal Injection Pass Challenge, APPEAL, $600,000+

According to correspondence from disillusioned clients, costs to the Federal Court of Appeals are separate from the original $1,000 retainer.

That’s right. Over $600,000 was needed to start the case, and then another $600,000 was needed to go to the Court of Appeals, and possibly the Supreme Court of Canada. Quote:

The fee retainer of $1,000 ($870 + $130 HST) covers a trial to the end in the Federal Court, including any motions, but not appeals to the Court of Appeal.

We also have this email:

Hello everyone,

Some of you have already heard but for those who haven’t, the Judge has rendered his decision in the Government’s motion to strike our claim. In a somewhat anticipated move, the claim was struck for 2/3 of the plaintiffs and remains open for 1/3 to amend the claim and resubmit. There is a letter attached from Rocco himself that goes into greater detail about the decision. Needless to say, the decision was an absolute pile of rubbish and the Panel has decided to appeal the decision.

Now, as you will read in Rocco’s attached letter, there are additional fees associated with launching the appeal. The additional fees are minimal in comparison to the initial retainer but an explanation is required.

As Rocco’s letter will clarify, the retainer fee was to cover all that was required to see this matter through a trial in the Federal Court. Now that an appeal is required, it is required to go through the Federal Court of Appeals and that alone will cost in excess of $100,000. Rocco budgeted the retainer fee on doing everything to see a trial through the Federal Court which did not include appeals.

We feel it necessary at this juncture to apologize to each and every one of you. We misinterpreted the finer details of what the retainer fee covered due, no doubt, to our limited knowledge about how the civil court process works and a misunderstanding of the information Rocco provided to us. Some of you asked specifically what all would be covered with the retainer fee and were informed it would cover this entire matter all the way through no matter what action was required and for this, we apologize.

We wish to reinforce with you that this was not done out of an attempt to deceive or act maliciously. We are going to be out the same amount as anyone else who desires to proceed and be a part of the appeal.

To avoid repeating the same confusion, the panel asked Rocco to outline the cost implications for every step and all the way to the Supreme Court which Rocco now outlined in his letter. We hope this will better serve all of us and it is also our hopes that you will see this effort by the panel as a way to remain fully transparent on what transpired but also on what to expect going forward. We too, do not want to see other surprises but more importantly, we do agree with Rocco that we have a strong position for an appeal. We ultimately hope for our day in Court but sadly, we did not have our day in Court here as our lawsuit was wrongly struck down as evidently explained in Rocco’s letter.

We are planning to host another info session with Rocco via Zoom within the next few weeks to answer questions you may have and to provide more information regarding how the appeal process will work. We are not going to attempt to solicit any money from anyone prior to this information session. Our intent is to allow you to consider whether each of you as individuals wish to proceed from this point.

We understand many of you will have questions. We will do our best to answer them or have Rocco address them in the upcoming info session.

We have also attached a link to the decision on the Federal Court website.

Sincerely and most humbly,

The Federal Employee Lawsuit Panel

Never mind that the case was struck as “bad beyond argument” due to the gross incompetence of counsel. If there was to be any appeal, or extra work, he should fix it for free.

(1) FCA Adelberg V. HMTK A-67-23 Notice Of Appeal
(2) FCA Adelberg V. HMTK A-67-23 Appeal Book
(3) FCA Adelberg V. HMTK A-67-23 Appellants MFL
(4) FCA Adelberg V. HMTK A-67-23 Respondents MFL

5. Federal Workers Injection Injuries, $600,000+

It has the same fundamental problem as the last Federal case. Under s.208 and s.236 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, Federal workers have the right to grieve, but not to sue. This will get thrown out for lack of jurisdiction alone. Why $600,000? From the site:

Legal Costs: Total retainer fee is about $600,000, which will be divisible by the number of signed Plaintiffs. As an example, 600 + Plaintiffs @ $1,000 each. If the Plaintiff count should be lower, the retainer fee will be pro rated as an example, 300 + Plaintiffs @ $2,000 each. To put this into perspective, this represents about a year’s supply of a latte at Starbuck’s, each day or your annual vehicle insurance. At this time, please do NOT submit your retainer fee. If there is enough interest then a simple one-page retainer agreement will be forwarded and then the retainer agreement and it’s fee can be submitted at that time. We will provide the details at a later time.

Interestingly, the site went down (or was taken down) shortly after it was exposed. Perhaps too many questions were being asked about the suit’s legitimacy.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231111011348/https://fre4justice.ca/

6. Take Action Canada, First Responders, $150,000+

Apparently, this is the new “iteration” of the 2021 Application that Police On Guard had been pushing. And like the POG case, this is terribly written.

Where does the $150,000 figure come from? There are about 100 clients, all of whom have paid a $1,500 retainer in order to be part of this case.

Even though injection passes became a reality in Summer/Fall of 2021, this suit wasn’t filed until March 1, 2023, about a year and a half later. Clearly, it’s not urgent. And even if these people were to find a real lawyer who could get them into court, the Statute of Limitations has likely expired.

Another serious problem will be the lack of jurisdiction. Since most or all of the Plaintiffs are members of a Government and/or belong to a union, they likely don’t have the right to sue. They can grieve — but apparently didn’t — though there’s probably no access to the Court.

This document was leaked in late November. If authentic, it may be a way to engineer an excuse to discontinue the case. Plaintiffs have already paid $1,500 each for a case that took 18 months to file. They’re not going to hand over another $4,500 per person.

(1) Ontario EMS Statement Of Claim
(2) Ontario EMS Amended Statement Of Claim
(3) Ontario EMS Requisition To Amend
(4) Ontario EMS Notice Of Intent To Defend
(5) Ontario EMS Demand For More Money

7. Vaccine Choice Canada (2019)

Few people remember this, but Vaccine Choice Canada actually has 2 separate lawsuits pending in Ontario Superior Court. The first was filed in October 2019, supposedly to challenge the vaccination requirements of Ontario students. However, that was over 4 years ago, and it doesn’t look like it’s ever been in Court.

(1) VCC – Statement Of Claim, October 2019 Lawsuit
(2) VCC – Statement Of Defence, October 2019 Lawsuit
(3) VCC – October 2019 Press Release

8. Vaccine Choice Canada (2020)

This high profile case was filed on July 6, 2020, when there were still high hopes that a legal solution existed. After it was launched, Vaccine Choice went on a media blitz trying to raise support and donations.

Problem is: nothing ever came of it. It sat idly from July 2020 until January 2023, where there was a Court appearance to set down dates for a Motion to Strike. That’s right, there was no meaningful activity of any kind for 2 1/2 years.

(1) VCC – Statement Of Claim Unredacted
(2) VCC – Discontinuance Against CBC
(3) VCC – Discontinuance Against CBC With Cover Letter
(4) VCC – Mercer Statement Of Defense
(5) VCC – Mercer Affidavit Of Service
(6) VCC – Requisition For CPC Motion To Strike
(7) VCC – Notice Of Motion To Strike
(8) VCC – Factum WEC Wajid Ahmed
(9) VCC – Factum Nicola Mercer
(10) VCC – Factum Federal Defendants

9. Police On Guard

Although Police On Guard is not a client or party, they pushed this April 2021 Application very hard, on behalf of Ontario police officers who were unhappy with their new roles. There was never any hearing though. It likely wouldn’t matter anyway, since cops are usually bound by collective bargaining agreements and can’t sue their employer.

However, their counsel has since confirmed that the case is no longer being pursued, and that the matter is considered “moot”. Apparently, it was rolled over into what is now the Take Action Canada case.

POLICE ON GUARD/OFFICERS:
(1) Notice Of Application — April 20, 2021

POLICE ON GUARD CORPORATE DOCUMENTS:
(1) Police On Guard Incorporation
(2) Police On Guard Registered Office & Directors
(3) Police On Guard Directors
(4) Police On Guard Bylaws
(5) Police On Guard Directors Later

10. Children’s Health Defense (Canada)

This was another Application from April 2021, that also isn’t being pursued, since it’s supposedly “moot”. Never been in Court either. Okay, how much was raised, and has any of the money been returned? Worth noting that the POG and CHDC Applications are almost identical, with just minor edits.

Some would view it as a conflict of interest to be a Director of CHDC, at the same being paid as counsel to represent them in litigation. Just a thought.

ONTARIO STUDENTS/CHDC:
(1) Notice Of Application — April 20, 2021, Masks On Students
(2) Schools – Rule 2.1.01 Decision
(3) Schools — Notice Of Appearance Robert Kyle
(4) Schools — Notice Of Appearance Halton Durham

CHD CANADA CORPORATE DOCUMENTS:
(1) Childrens Health Defense Canada Registered Office
(2) Childrens Health Defense Canada Incorporation
(3) Childrens Health Defense Registered office & Directors
(4) Childrens Health Defense Canada Annual Return

11. Privacy Is Your Right

A group operating under the name “Privacy Is Your Right” solicited money from the public in a March 27, 2023 Zoom hearing, in order to take the CPSO to Court. In short, the doctor involved didn’t want to turn over records to the medical regulator, and several patients sought standing to challenge the demand, citing privacy.

The case was heard on March 30, and thrown out the same day. Leave was sought to go to the Ontario Court of Appeals. While the sudden verdict seemed odd, reading the decision cleared things up.

[13] In Kilian, at para. 44, this Court confirmed that patients have no private interest standing in the circumstances where the CPSO has initiated an investigation into a member’s conduct, stating as follows:
.
The Patient Applicants do not have a personal legal interest in the ICRC’s decisions to authorize an investigation of Dr. Kilian’s conduct or to place restrictions on her certificate. They have concerns that their medical records will be disclosed to College investigators, but that does not justify a grant of private interest standing, given the purpose of the regulatory regime and the subject matter of the judicial review proceeding.

[14] In Kilian, at para. 45, this Court held that a finding of private interest standing would be contrary to the statutory purpose, which is to regulate physicians’ conduct in the public interest. A finding of private interest standing would “disrupt” professional regulation because it would entitle thousands of patients to standing at the investigation stage: Kilian, at para. 47. This Court also noted that the Code grants patients standing in certain limited circumstances, further demonstrating the legislature’s intention to circumscribe patient participation in the regulatory process.

[15] Moreover, in Kilian, this Court went on to find that the patients have no direct interest in the decisions under review, which involve the regulator and the member. Similarly, the restrictions on the physician’s certificate in that case did not affect the patients’ legal interests: Kilian, at paras. 49-50. We see no reason to depart from the thorough and persuasive analysis conducted by this Court in Kilian.

Are Dr. Kustka’s Applications for Judicial Review Premature?
.
[29] As this Court recently confirmed in Kilian, judicial review applications challenging decisions to initiate investigations under s. 75(1)(a) of the Code are generally dismissed as premature: Berge v. College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario, 2022 ONSC 1220, at para. 7. Challenges to the appointment of investigators, including the College’s compliance with any statutory requirements, can and should be made before the Discipline Committee, if the matter proceeds to that stage.

In short, the exact same issues had already been argued (and decided) by the Courts. The ONCA has also weighed in on the matter. It was premature to sue to prevent the CPSO from instigating proceedings against a doctor. It had also been decided that patients can’t claim private interest standing to prevent such a thing from happening. All of this was previously treaded ground.

Of course, this hadn’t been disclosed at the Zoom call. It wasn’t mentioned that all of the issues being argued had already been settled. Would people still have donated if they knew? And how did they rake in?

12. Kulvinder Gill Defamation #1

Kulvinder Gill and Ashvinder Lamba (well, mostly Gill) made headlines in December 2020 by filing a $12.75 million defamation lawsuit against 23 people and media outlets. While it mainly had to do with spats on Twitter, portions of the suit related to issues with the CPSO investigations.

It’s unclear what Gill and Lamba paid for legal representation, but the other side claimed well over $1 million in costs. They were awarded them on a full indemnity (100%) basis.

The ruling was appealed, and it’s long been suspected that this was “leverage” in order to bargain for more favourable settlement terms.

Yes, the Defendants had said some rude things on Twitter, but filing this suit just makes Gill and Lamba come across as unhinged and vindictive. One would think that the “freedom movement” would disavow such loonies.

(1) Gill/Lamba Defamation Lawsuit December 2020
(2) Gill/Lamba Factum Of Medical Post Tristan Bronca
(3) Gill/Lamba Case Dismissed As A SLAPP
(4) Gill/Lamba Notice of Appeal and Appellants’ Certificate
(5) Gill/Lamba Appeal – Notice of Intention to Dismiss Appeal for Delay, May 12, 2022
(6) Gill/Lamba July 15 Letter To Obtain New Counsel
(7) Gill/Lamba Case Conference Brief July 29, 2022
(8) Gill/Lamba Endorsement New Counsel Cost Submissions August 3, 2022
(9) Gill/Lamba Case $1.1 Million In Costs Ordered October 31, 2022

13. Kulvinder Gill Defamation #2

This isn’t Gill’s only trip through the “gag proceedings” rodeo. March 2021, she sued the University of Ottawa, and one of its professors, Amir Attaran, for calling her an idiot on Twitter. She demanded $7 million in damages.

At the moment, the University has initiated an anti-SLAPP Motion against her. Unclear how much this will cost either side, but it really is a nonsense lawsuit.

(1) Gill-Attaran Statement Of Claim
(2) Gill Attaran Affidavit Of Service
(3) Gill-Attaran Notice Of Intent

14. Byram Bridle, University Of Guelph

It’s a bit hard to describe this case. Although it’s cloaked as protecting the speech and expression of a freedom fighter, the claim is filled with petty drama.

Given the parties involved — staff at the University of Guelph — the Court is likely to gut the case, at least regarding some Defendants. Guelph has it’s own collective bargaining agreement, so there will likely be a lack of jurisdiction for at least some of them.

Considering the allegations around speech and expression, the case is also vulnerable to an anti-SLAPP Motion, which would grind everything to a halt.

Seems like a waste of money all around.

(1) https://canucklaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/Byram-Bridle-Statement-Of-Claim.pdf
(2) https://canucklaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/Byram-Bridle-Statement-Of-Defence.pdf
(3) https://canucklaw.ca/byram-bridle-lawsuit-unlikely-to-ever-get-anywhere/

15. CPSO Challenges

There have been several challenges of medical doctors going to Court in order to avoid potential discipline hearings, or to prevent disclosure of documents. These have never gone anywhere, since the Courts find it “premature” to wade into matters involving a regulator until things are settled.

The rationale is that if a doctor — or any regulated professional — could simply file a lawsuit when threatened, it would render the governing body helpless. While these challenges may be noble, they’re destined to fail.

Stay of related tribunal proceeding
.
137.4 (1) If the responding party has begun a proceeding before a tribunal, within the meaning of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, and the moving party believes that the proceeding relates to the same matter of public interest that the moving party alleges is the basis of the proceeding that is the subject of his or her motion under section 137.1, the moving party may file with the tribunal a copy of the notice of the motion that was filed with the court and, on its filing, the tribunal proceeding is deemed to have been stayed by the tribunal. 2015, c. 23, s. 3.

That being said, there is an exception. For the “freedom doctors” who object to the CPSO shutting down their free speech, s.137.4(1) of the Courts of Justice Act, or anti-SLAPP laws, allow such matters to be removed from the regulatory body, at least in Ontario. It’s baffling why none of them ever seem to use it.

16. Some final thoughts

This has been an attempt to document at least some of the money paid to lawyers in the last few years. Clearly, not all categories have dollar amounts attached, so the actual figures are much larger. While $3,350,000 can be tracked, it wouldn’t be surprising if it were closer to $10 million, or higher.

Pretty lucrative, isn’t it? And all for cases that were never pursued in any meaningful way. One would think that more donors and clients would be demanding refunds.

How much money did Vaccine Choice Canada receive for 2 lawsuits they aren’t advancing? How much did the case pushed by Police On Guard raise? Children’s Health Defense Canada?

This is likely why the Toews lawsuit happened back in June 2022. She had requested that the Law Society of Ontario investigate what had happened to her donations, as neither the Vaccine Choice nor Action4Canada cases seemed to be moving. Unlike with most complaints, the LSO demanded a response this time, which could easily have triggered an audit into the case financings. Suing her was a way to buy time, and to derail the investigation. Justice Chalmers (rightly) found that this was an act of intimidation.

Suing the Law Society itself, both in 2022 and 2023, was also likely done to buy time. The first one is under reserve on a Motion to Strike, with the second idle for the time being.

And covering these suits was the reason this website was sued in September 2021. Apparently, we can’t have the public asking too many questions about the quality of the work from the “freedom lawyers”.

Why keep pursuing this area?

If it can be destroyed by the truth, then it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.