The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has granted an injunction against a group of lawyers for breaching their good faith and fiduciary duties in a “planned and deliberate operation” to take over the personal injury practice of their employer Sokoloff Lawyers.
In his decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice William Chalmers wrote, “without providing notice to her employer, Ms. Chorney closed the office at 1 p.m. on October 8, 2021, and asked the employees to leave the computers on and not password protected. She downloaded client files. She arranged for the locks in the office to be changed and the Sokoloff Lawyers sign to be removed. She had previously secured a domain name and prepared letterhead for her new firm. I find that she contacted clients about the transfer of files before she resigned from the firm.”
Sokoloff established serious issues to be tried and met the test for an injunction because it was unreasonable for the law firm to finance payments on the transferred files and for Chorney to control and retain the value of the documents through “self-help” without costs or risk, Justice Chalmers wrote. The judge found that Chorney’s conduct was unfair competition for Sokoloff.
Justice Chalmers ordered Chorney to pay the disbursements on all transferred files within five months and placed future settlement proceeds in trust pending firm fees confirmation.
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