Sudbury Businessman and Lawyer Wins Key Legal Victory: Paul Temelini proceeds with his case against TD Canada Trust

15 March 2006

Paul Temelini has cleared a major hurdle in his battle against TD Canada Trust.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice says he can continue with his law suit against TD Canada Trust, formerly Canada Permanent. In addition, the decision prevents the RCMP, an intervener in the case, from invoking the law of informer privilege. Mr. Temelini is to be reimbursed for part of his legal costs.

Mr. Temelini believes that, in the early 1980s, Robert Thorne, an employee with Canada Permanent Trust Company, now known as TD Canada Trust, breached client confidentiality by providing his business and personal financial information to the RCMP without a search warrant.

At the time, the RCMP was investigating Mr. Temelini's work as a solicitor in real estate transactions. Mr. Temelini was charged with six counts of fraud in 1982. He was acquitted on all charges in February 1984. However, Mr. Temelini's law practice suffered irrevocable harm and his reputation in the business and legal community was destroyed.

Litigation directed at one of the RCMP officers, Jack Kruger, has been ongoing since the 1980s.

"What TD Canada Trust, Canada Permanent at the time did, was wrong both legally and ethically. That single act, revealed in an internal RCMP document, a transit slip, we found in the course of the Kruger action and under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that Robert Thorne met with the RCMP's Jack Kruger. They knew they were wrong because they were even thinking of getting a search warrant to render the documents they already had in hand legitimate," concludes Mr. Temelini.

When Mr. Temelini found this transit slip, he launched a law suit against TD Canada Trust, formerly Canada Permanent. Lawyers for the bank tried to have the case permanently stayed by invoking the deemed undertaking rule. In essence, the rule states that evidence or information obtained in a law suit cannot be used for any purpose other than the law suit.

In addition, the RCMP said that allowing the case against TD Canada Trust to go forward would have a chilling effect on the use of informants.

However, Master Robert Beaudoin, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in a November 2005 decision rejected the arguments of both the RCMP and TD Canada Trust.

He stated that it was too late in the day to invoke the law of informer privilege given that at no time since the litigation started against Kruger in the 1980s was this ever presented.

According to Master Beaudoin: "The question at the heart of this action (the request to stay the suit against TD Canada Trust) is whether financial institutions can have in their employ "reliable" police sources who release a client's confidential information to investigating police without the protection of due process, namely a search warrant. The transit slip discloses that the parties were very concerned about the need for this warrant."

Master Beaudoin stated in his decision that he was satisfied "that the interests of justice do outweigh any potential prejudice to the RCMP in these circumstances and, for that reason, I grant the order sought by the Plaintiff for relief of breach of the deemed undertaking rule."

"They've been trying to wear me down for more than 20 years. I am determined to seek justice, not just for myself, but for everyone that faces large institutions in the courts," says Mr. Temelini. "This is how BIG suppresses small. Instead of admitting they messed up, a big financial institution and a big arm of government in my opinion appear to have been stalling me at every turn hoping that I would go away. Well I have not and I will not. As a lawyer, I want the system to do better because I know there are many other people being worn down, others that don't have the capabilities or the legal knowledge of how the system should work to fight back. Once this litigation is satisfied it is my intention to set up a Foundation Trust to assist people experiencing similar difficulties."

A motion is to be heard in the Kruger action on June 19, 2006. No date has been set for the resumption of the TD Canada Permanent case.

For further information: Michael Hebert, Beament Green, (613) 241-3400

Source: newswire

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