Legal fees mount in Tory case against Elections Canada

[jdobbin]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...4GVypXtYZrVnjew

Legal fees approaching $500,000 have become a sensitive issue in the 18-month-old lawsuit the Conservative party mounted against Elections Canada over a controversial advertising scheme during the 2006 election.

It has reached the point where the court chastised a party lawyer because his objections led to a hearing described as unnecessary.

"Why are we even spending your client's money on this - the public's money?" the acting judge, Mireille Tabib, told Michel Decary as she agreed with arguments from a lawyer for Elections Canada in a procedural dispute.

Litigation costs from the lawsuit totalled $210,350 for Elections Canada alone by the end of October, a spokesman for the agency told The Canadian Press.

Even the CTF is calling the long case a drain on the Canadian taxpayer pocketbook.

[fellowtraveller]

Would you deny the plaintiff due process?

[jdobbin]

Would you deny the plaintiff due process?

Not at all.

The judge commented though and the plaintiff is asking for hearings that are a waste of the court's time and money.

[fellowtraveller]

Yet the judge - any Canadian judge- can dismiss the proceedings at any time when he determines the case has no merit. If it's a waste of time and money, why hasn't he done so?

And... a careful reading of your link indicates that the judge is chastising the plaintiffs counsel for milking his client, not commenting on the overall quality of the plaintiffs case. If he thought it was bogus, he can drop it forthwith and would.

This effort is not up to your usual level of spin.

Try again.

[Topaz]

Is it the rule whoever loses their case pays court cost? I guess in this cases the taxpayers are paying for both or is the conservtive party paying their own? What about the case the Cons have against the Libs?

[jdobbin]

Yet the judge - any Canadian judge- can dismiss the proceedings at any time when he determines the case has no merit. If it's a waste of time and money, why hasn't he done so?

I don't recall making any claim on the merit. The judge is telling the plaintiff to stop wasting time on matters that don't further the case.

And... a careful reading of your link indicates that the judge is chastising the plaintiffs counsel for milking his client, not commenting on the overall quality of the plaintiffs case. If he thought it was bogus, he can drop it forthwith and would.

And his client is milking the taxpayer.

This effort is not up to your usual level of spin.

Try again.

And your spin the other way is that taxpayer money can't be wasted on dragging the case out, it seems.

[fellowtraveller]

I don't recall making any claim on the merit. The judge is telling the plaintiff to stop wasting time on matters that don't further the case.

so what? It is one of many rulings judges make in the natural course of a case/trial. Why is this one significant

And his client is milking the taxpayer.

His client is the CPC. They are spending their own money.

And your spin the other way is that taxpayer money can't be wasted on dragging the case out, it seems.It seems? The judge has acted to stop the lawyer from dragging it out. That makes it a non-story, unless you are you

[jdobbin]

so what? It is one of many rulings judges make in the natural course of a case/trial. Why is this one significant?

Because we are footing the bill.

His client is the CPC. They are spending their own money.

And as the judge pointed out the Conservatives are funded in part by tax money.

It seems? The judge has acted to stop the lawyer from dragging it out. That makes it a non-story, unless you are you

Non-story to you maybe. Even the CTF has said the lawsuiot is waste of money and should be settled.

[Progressive Tory]

I believe Harper's lawsuit against the Liberals fisseled out when it was determined that his voice on the tape was not doctored. His reaction was something like "oh".

He's also suing the Canadian Wheatboard and we're paying for that too..

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Let the Conservatives spend their money, let them spend the tax payers money while they are at it. In the end this will hurt them more than it hurts us.