Outrageous Backlog in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
Concerns for the backlogs in the Ontario justice system are becoming mainstream. According to Howard Levitt for the Financial Post, the backlog in small claims courts was “so outrageous that many lawyers were choosing to risk filing their claims in Superior Court — with serious adverse cost consequences — in order to have their matter heard on a more timely basis.”[1] Small claims court backlog …
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Fresh Fish for Sale!
When did the first fishmonger call out, “Fish for Sale! Fresh Off the Boat!” The obvious value of freshness is still captured by dockside sales and fish markets notable for the absence of smell—for truly fresh fish don’t smell fishy. In this example the ability to communicate the value of freshness is straightforward: an ad hoc cardboard sign by the roadside will do. Similar examples …
What You Gonna Do About Me?
Reba McEntire has a country-western song called “What You Gonna Do About Me?” It is one of the few popular songs which addresses divorce from the child’s perspective: one line asks “Is it Daddy on the weekend, Mama rest of the week? Will I have to make new friends, live on adifferent street?” Custody disputes can defy just resolution. They are often given a priority …
Former Rwandan Doctor Living in France Brought to Trial After Twenty-Eight Year Delay
After 28 years, 68-year-old Sosthene Munyemana, a former doctor in Rwanda now living in France, has finally been put on trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Rwandan genocide. In 1995, a complaint was filed in Bordeaux against Munyemana, one year after the genocide. He has been accused of organising torture and killings and almost 70 witnesses are expected to testify. …
Bankman-Fried Arrested and Tried in Eleven Months
In only eleven months, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested, charged, and found guilty of all seven charges of fraud and conspiracy. FTX, a cryptocurrency empire, toppled last year due to a spike in withdrawals that exposed $8 billion missing. Bankman-Fried was accused by the prosecution for stealing $10 billion from FTX and moving it to his hedge-fund, Alameda Research. Between Bankman-Fried’s attempts at …
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Military Sexual Assault Case Stayed
Trevor Cadieu, a retired lieutenant-general for the Canadian Armed Forces has received a stay of proceedings regarding two sexual assault charges from 1994 by Kingston judge Larry O’Brien. Justice O’Brien found that, given the trial was expected to conclude by mid-February 2024, the case will have exceeded the 18-month Jordan ceiling by a month and a half. He laid the blame at the feet of …
The Bankman-Fried Fraud Case
The federal prosecution has just rested its case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency FTX. He has plead “not guilty” to two charges of fraud and five charges of conspiracy. Three of his former colleagues have plead “guilty” and testified against Bankman-Fried. The prosecution alleges that Bankman-Fried misappropriated funds to his own hedge-fund, Alameda research. The position the defence seems to be …
Foothills 31 v Alston, 2022
Back in 2010, Ellen Alston and Leslie Vecsey sued the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31 for $8 million for alleged contamination of the groundwater. By 2014, the parties exchanged records and the municipality applied for access of the water in order to test it. Ms. Alston and Mr. Vecsey initially appealed the order but later abandoned the appeal. However, the municipality couldn’t test the …
Timeliness Requires More than Great Leaders
Sir Thomas More, the hero of A Man for All Seasons, is also a hero in the lesser known history of timely justice. In his two and a half years as Chancellor of England he worked with an alacrity that eliminated the backlog left behind by the 14-year chancellorship of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. This achievement gave rise to a rhyme: When More some time had …
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Too Late to Make it Right
In 1988, nearly a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Forte was convicted in Vermont of repeatedly raping and molesting his daughter’s twelve-year-old friend. Ten months later, the trial judge ordered a retrial on the basis the female prosecutor was “overly emotional” in her conduct of the case. Thirty years later, Forte was living in Florida, having never faced a new trial. …