Misleading the court

M

mamabear1234

New member
I have a transcript which shows opposing counsel lied to the court in making submissions on costs. The lie was about the substantive issue at the motion and can be clearly shown as false. The affidavit that was submitted for the motion also contained a number of lies. The issue was forced to a motion by opposing counsel through dirty tactics, despite having settled the day before, and then I was held responsible for using court time and costs were ordered against me. Do I have any recourse? My Legal Aid lawyer doesn't do appeals and it takes 4-6 weeks with Legal Aid to switch lawyers.
 
mamabear1234 said:
I have a transcript which shows opposing counsel lied to the court in making submissions on costs.
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You believe that opposing counsel lied. That is not even remotely the same thing as "opposing counsel lied"

The affidavit that was submitted for the motion also contained a number of lies.
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You lost the motion. The judge clearly did not believe that they were lies. It is very possible that the court will not believe that the "lies" on the costs submissions were actually lies either.

Do I have any recourse? My Legal Aid lawyer doesn't do appeals and it takes 4-6 weeks with Legal Aid to switch lawyers.
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This is why legal aid is a problem. It makes people underappreciate the cost of going to court.

No mamabear. You lost, and you would likely lose the appeal. Drop this nonsense and get on with your life.
 
Kinso, this lawyer lied repeatedly about the access that had been both offered by them and also what we ultimately settled on the day prior to the motion. These details can be clearly seen by comparing the offers to his statements. For example, this lawyer lied about the quantity of days. A fairly huge "mistake" considering that was the whole issue at motion. How the judge missed this, or why it was disregarded, I do not know. In fact, the transcript has the other lawyer actually saying "they were successful" (meaning me!) so whether that was a transcription error or a Freudian slip, I do not know. What I know is that I was successful in maintaining the status quo (they wanted to significantly alter it) and also the quantity of days of access. From everything I have read, success on a motion is assessed by comparing the terms of the order with the relief requested. I have no doubt that if we had done written submissions on costs as my lawyer requested, these details would have been apparent. I also think the other lawyer knew this and that's why he played dirty in front of the judge to confuse the issue.
 
So cost submission were made and the lawyer misrepresented the content of the offer? Ie. he said he offer was for 5 days and the offer was actually 6? Or something like that?

This is no where near enough to overturn the order or even get the lawyer in trouble. Sounds more like he misspoke.
 
He said they had made previous offers based on status quo access (they did not , they offered a substantial and very obvious change to status quo), he said we had settled the motion on their terms (they did not - it was my terms), and he said we settled on X number of days (what they asked for), which we did not, it was Y number of days (what I asked for). That's a lot of facts to "misspeak". Especially when that's the basic content of the motion.
 
mamabear1234 said:
He said they had made previous offers based on status quo access (they did not , they offered a substantial and very obvious change to status quo), he said we had settled the motion on their terms (they did not - it was my terms), and he said we settled on X number of days (what they asked for), which we did not, it was Y number of days (what I asked for). That's a lot of facts to "misspeak". Especially when that's the basic content of the motion.
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complain to the law society?
 
Do I understand correctly that the other party was successful and submitted cost submissions that you felt were untrue?

So the point to rebut those statements was in your own cost submissions.

Normally the cost submissions are first submitted by the successful party, then you can make a case for why you shouldn’t pay the Costs they are asking.

If your lawyer did not rebut when they had the opportunity, then that is on your lawyer. Did you approve the cost submissions your lawyer had prepared?

You can appeal costs submissions, but depending on the amount, it may not be worth it.
 
My lawyer did rebut. I checked the transcript. The other party was not successful in the sense that the judge made an order based on their terms. We settled prior to the motion on my terms, with a few minor changes. They sent an offer to settle which was essentially what I was asking for. I accepted in good faith because I thought it would avoid the motion and costs. Also it was my terms and I was fine with all of it, so why not. I really think the judge just did not take the time to compare the settlement with the actual motion materials. And the other side is very aggressive and vindictive.
 
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