A CONTENTIOUS CUSTODY BATTLE PUTS CHILDREN IN THE MIDDLE
The Key Issue: A husband and wife separated after having two young children and both sought custody, each citing claims of the other parent being unfit to raise the kids.
The mother wanted sole custody while the father, our client, sought joint custody and wished the children live with him. Both raised concerns of substance abuse by the other along with assertions that their ex demonstrated an inability to parent.
What We Did: When it became clear that the parents were unable to negotiate an agreement, we filed a custody application. After a number of motions were heard in Family Court, a private assessment was ordered and a specialist dealing with high conflict matters brought in. The evaluation supported the father’s position.
The Outcome: The court gave the father sole custody of the children; the mother was given restricted access. Now, the children continue to reside with the father, have started school and are thriving. |
When An Ex Tries Punishing Grandparents By Denying Visits With The Kids
The Key Issue: A wife was denying her ex-husband access to their three daughters. She was also blocking the children’s paternal grandparents, who had had a loving relationship with the kids, also were being denied access to their grandchildren by the mother.
What We Did: Ontario law protects the rights of grandparents so we filed an action on their behalf. We asked for a court order allowing the grandparents to have access to the children one weekend each month, as well as being able to see the kids during summer and other holidays throughout the year.
The Outcome: The court awarded the grandparents access, finding that the relationship between them and the children was in youngster’s best interests. |
Stopping A Parent Who Abducts The Children
The Key Issue: Our client was told by his wife that she wanted to separate. Discussions began on all of issues that led to the breakdown of their marriage.
Meanwhile, with the husband at work one day, the wife abducted their two children, aged one and three, and left the jurisdiction. Without telling her husband, on the day she arrived in Northern Ontario, the wife started proceedings for sole custody, support and sought a restraining order against the children’s father.
What We Did: We filed an emergency action in Ontario Superior Court on behalf of the father, seeking an order for the immediate return of the children. We also asked the court to require police help in finding the children and, if the wife refused to return to the jurisdicion, hold them until the father could rescue them.
We also asked the court to stop the action begun by the wife, since the children had been unlawfully removed from the juridiction and were not residents of . The order was obtained and served on the wife but she still refused to return the children.
The Outcome: The court issues an order in favour of our client. Police in Northern Ontario located the children who were returned to the matrimonial home and placed in father’s care.
|
CLIENT: Partner of a fund
PROBLEM: Extricating from current employment situation, counseling on any restrictions and duties that post-date employment, helping negotiate the new arrangement
OUTCOME: Within a very short time frame was able to join new company and has never looked back |
CLIENT: Directors of large insolvent company
PROBLEM: Sued in both Canada and the US for amounts well in excess of available D&O insurance
OUTCOME: Mediated an ultimate resolution well within available coverage |
Gambling Addiction
Nature of the problem: The client had a severe gambling addiction. He had signed several self-exclusion forms at various Ontario casinos but continued to gamble because the casinos failed in their obligations to exclude him.
Action taken: An action was commenced in the Ontario Court on behalf of the client against the named casinos, the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation and the Ontario Government, for financial losses and psychological damages resulting from their failure to exclude the client from the casinos. This action was the first of its kind in Ontario and has served as a protection for other actions.
Result: After difficult and protracted litigation, a confidential settlement was negotiated that was very beneficial to the client. |
Medical Negligence
Nature of the problem: The client slipped and fell during a sporting activity, fracturing his left wrist. He attended the hospital where the treating doctor had the wrist x-rayed and then placed in a cast. The client suffered permanent loss of flexibility, strength and use of his wrist, which severely limited his ability to engage in day-today activities and especially, in an athletic activity in which he had been an enthusiastic participant.
Action taken: An action was commenced in Superior Court against the doctor who had provided the medical services on the basis that he had been negligent in his treatment of the client. The action was rigorously defended by the doctor.
Result: Prior to trial, negotiations took place with the lawyers representing the doctor which resulted in a confidential beneficial settlement. |
Partnership Dispute
Nature of the problem: The client had an equal partner in a business with very high annual sales. The client believed that the partner was acting in an unfair fashion by making decisions involving corporate expenditures, personal expenses and commitments without consulting the client as an equal partner.
Action taken: An application was commenced under the provisions of the Ontario Business Corporations Act in the Commercial section of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, claiming oppression by the other shareholder and asking that the Company be wound up or that one partner be forced to sell his shares to the other. The application was supported by a detailed and complex Affidavit. The other partner filed responding material stating his version of events. A thorough and complex argument was prepared and presented to the presiding Justice of the Ontario Superior Court. The Court ordered a bidding auction between the two partners, where each partner bid to purchase the other’s shares.
Result: A very successful price was obtained for the client’s interest in the business. |
