We hear a lot about Access to Justice in the news and how lower income individuals cannot afford to litigate in Ontario. That is a problem. That is not the topic of this Blog.
This Blog is about the frustration of dealing with judicial officials who make off handed comments that corporations, some of them small and barely getting by, need to “spend money on legal fees to make money” (direct quote) to get relief from the Court.
This specifically is in the area of equipment and vehicle leasing. In that area of law, our clients own equipment (often worth over $ 100k) and lease it to individuals and businesses. On occasion, the lessee makes and initial payment then runs off with the equipment or vehicle.
The police tell our clients this is a civil matter.
We then move before the Court for an Order for repossession. This is where the frustration can come in. Recently a judicial official told our lawyers, “it’s not really stolen, leasing companies always claim that” . Wow. This when the equipment was almost worth $ 200k and we had evidence that the lessee was ignoring our client and had skipped town.
Justice must include justice for leasing companies. Running up the fees because the judicial officials think “the companies can afford it” is unacceptable. Justice should be for everyone, it should be blind and there shouldn’t be a premium on it for leasing companies.
Justice for all please. Thank-you.
Inga B. Andriessen JD