ALNAZ JIWA WANTS TO MEET WITH AGA KHAN
AToronto lawyer has turned down a chance for a personal meeting with theAga Khan in exchange for an acknowledgment he had breached the imam’scopyright by publishing copies of his religious teachings.
Instead,Alnaz Jiwa and his co-defendant, Montreal businessman Nagib Tajdin, arepushing to personally examine their spiritual leader for discovery andare even offering to fly to France, where the Aga Khan lives, to do itwhile insisting they still don’t believe he authorized the action.
Aletter filed in Federal Court and posted on the web siteismaili.net/heritage/node/30113 showed the Ismaili leader was preparedto drop his claims for damages and costs in return for an unconditionalsettlement that acknowledged his copyright over his religious writingsknown as Farmans.
The personal meeting would then take placeso that the defendants could “explain your actions to him and ask forforgiveness,” according to the letter.
OSHAWA LAWYER DISBARRED
Oshawa, Ont., lawyer Edmund Manna-Atta Kwaw has had his licence revoked after the Law Society of Upper Canada found him guilty of professional misconduct.
A disciplinary panel found Kwaw had misapplied client funds in his mixed trust account and surreptitiously altered 18 trust cheques to his own benefit.
He also failed to register a discharge of a charge despite a written undertaking that he would and failed to keep proper books and records of his practice.
In addition, the panel found he had failed to co-operate with the law society’s investigation and ordered him to pay $45,000 in costs.
SISKINDS ANNOUNCES GILDAN SETTLEMENT
London,Ont., firm Siskinds LLP has announced a tentative $22-millionsettlement of a class action lawsuit involving shareholders in GildanActivewear Inc.
The case revolved around disclosures by the TSX-listed company about its earnings guidance in 2008 and its manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic.
Actions were filed in Ontario, Quebec, and New York. Shareholders who bought stock between August 2007 and April 2008 will receive payouts as long as the courts in each jurisdiction approve the deal, under which Gildan made no admission of liability.
KEEP LONG-FORM CENSUS: CBA
The Canadian Bar Association has added its voice to the chorus of criticism of the federal government’s decision to abolish the mandatory long-form census.
The CBA says it puts the reliability of statistics at risk needed for important policy decisions and notes the move will have a particular impact on Canadians involved in serious personal injury cases.
“Lawyers and judges rely on data from the long-form census in personal injury cases to help evaluate the future needs of those who are not closely connected to the paid labour force,” said CBA president Kevin Carroll. “In many cases, these include women, children, and disabled people.”
Carroll said the neutrality of the census data gives it much greater weight in court. “Judges are more willing to accept census data over information gathered through industry or professional associations,” he said.
