DURHAM -- Ontario's appeals court has blocked
a Toronto man's attempt to revive a $15.5-million lawsuit he launched in 1995
against Durham Regional Police and the Durham Children's Aid Society, after he
was charged with sexually assaulting a child.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruling, handed down Tuesday, rejects claims made
by Donald Williams of Scarborough that he was not adequately represented by his
lawyer when his civil suit went to court in 2001.
In the decision, written by Justice Marvin Catzman and supported by two other
appeals court judges, Durham Regional Police investigators and a CAS worker are
awarded $25,000 in costs for their defence of the appeal; the original decision
in 2001 awarded costs of more than $235,000 to six defendants, including police,
CAS workers and relatives who first raised concerns about the sexual abuse of a
young girl.
The court rejected Mr. Williams's claim that his lawyer, Richard Parker, had
failed to adequately represent him during a 15-day trial in 2001. At the
conclusion of the trial, a judge ruled that Durham police and CAS workers had
conducted their investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against the child
without bias or animosity, and that Mr. Williams's arrest and brief confinement
were lawful and proper.
Mr. Williams was charged with sexual assault in 1994; after a judge ruled
some evidence inadmissible during pre-trial proceedings, the charges were stayed
in 1996.
Mr. Williams launched the massive civil suit in 1995, claiming wrongful
arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation and negligence,
among other allegations. Defendants included Durham police investigators Debbie
White and Lynn Kantautus, CAS worker Maria D'Assisi, and the child's maternal
grandmother, among others.
The decision describes often-confused courtroom proceedings when the suit
went to court. There were times when Mr. Williams and Mr. Parker, his lawyer,
were openly at odds over how the case ought to proceed, according to the ruling.
After a judge ruled against him, Mr. Williams appealed, claiming he was
poorly represented when the suit went to trial. But when Mr. Parker pursued Mr.
Williams for $50,000 in legal bills he'd racked up, they struck an agreement:
Mr. Williams dropped all claims against Mr. Parker, who agreed to settle the
outstanding account for $3,000.
That agreement, and Mr. Williams's denial of liability on the part of Mr.
Parker, were cited in the decision released Tuesday by the appeals court.
"He pursued (a claim against Mr. Parker). He settled it," Justice
Catzman wrote.
"(Mr. Williams) ought not now to be allowed to force the respondents, on
the very same basis as his suit against Mr. Parker, to undergo the trouble and
expense and hazards of a new trial through absolutely no fault of their
own."
The court's refusal to order a new trial isn't the end to Mr. William's
litigation involving Durham Regional Police.
Last month he filed a $2-million lawsuit, accusing a polygraph technician of
tampering with evidence, an allegation that has not been proven in court.
That same allegation has led to a tribunal under the Police Services Act,
which is scheduled to begin hearing evidence in November.