Canada Court Watch reported that in June 2009 Robert Freedland was photographed protesting outside the Shepard avenue courthouse wearing a kangaroo costume. lol Now that's the proactive use of imagery. His complaints involve accusations of court bias towards lawyer overbilling and include allegations of transcript altering. The common thread in all these judicial complaints is the complete lack of public accountability within the Canadian judicial system.
Evidently there has been many allegations of transcript altering in Ontario. I have never heard of that in BC. Here the trial is recorded and a third party types up the transcript upon request. There appears to be misconduct probes in Ontario. I have never heard of that in BC. We have huge problems with accusations of misconduct. I've just never heard of an actual probe to resolve the matter. We have to wait for lunatics like Peter Leask to age out and retire.
Greg Harney is a lawyer in Victoria that faces over billing allegations tied to the BCIMC Fraud.
William Majcher exposed Canadian Corruption
Affidavit of William Robert Majcher
if the "court reporter" works within the court house it might be simple to go to the reporter and ask they change the wording of a transcript. If the reporter works directly for the court house then they may feel pressured to do as directed to ensure they retain their position. However, transcripts could be altered at any time, if a powerful enough individual went to the reporter and demanded it be done. if the court reporter had no where to go for support it would be even more difficult for the reporter.
ReplyDeleteIn some provinces, it maybe that the work is contracted out. the recordings are given to the contractors who then do the work. that could be problematic, if some one knew who the contractors were and went to them to "insist" the wording be altered. This might be a huge issue in an appeal, you know directions from the judge, etc.
there needs to be more over sight in this area of work and those who do the work need to be kept at arms length from the rest of the people who work in the judicial system Their work environment ought to be secure.
If there is anything "wrong" or corrupt with the system then I'm sure we may be hearing from others. It would be interesting to see how many "appeals" are involved in this type of thing.
As to over billing, lawyers ought to be monitored by clients just as they monitor any one else who does work for them. You don't pay the dog walker 3 hours for 2 hrs. of walking. People might need to understand that every time they speak to their lawyer, the clock goes on. Many don't and then are surprised when they get the bill. They thought the lawyer was their friend, was just listening. They need to understand, lawyers need billable hours. If lawyers bill for work not done, then yes people need to take action and the easiest way is to start in small claims court and filing a complaint with their association. Putting a notice out asking others who have had the same problem is another way to start. If one person complains, its not much. 10 people complain, we have a real case.
Another aspect of the system in BC is, if you go to court and the judge issues a ruling against the Crown, unless the defendant pays for transcripts, it does not become case law, is never recorded and the Crown is not barred from making the same arguments again in a later case on a similar charge. Pretty convenient, huh?
ReplyDeleteIn the US there is a doctrine called "fruit of the poisonous tree". This means that if evidence s illegally obtained by the police, out it goes, and anything that comes from it, hence the name. In BC, even AFTER a judge rules that evidence was obtained in an illegal manner (ie. Police search illegally without a warrant, Judge rules that they needed one and there was no reason but sheer laziness or a case of "we're the police, we can do what we want" not to) the Crown can request that the evidence be allowed in court anyway. And often that will be granted to the Crown.
What a joke. Stacked deck much? And no incentive to the police to do their job correctly, when they suffer not if they don't. Justice? Nope, "just us". Pretty pathetic.
I've never heard of that before. All decisions become case law.
DeleteOur judges just make up the rules as they go along. Of course evidence should be thrown out if it was illegally obtained. But not in Canada. The truth is that we're a Banana Republic. Our whole legal system needs a major overhaul.
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