Canadian Court Dismisses Lawsuit Filed By Former Premier

HAMILTON, Bermuda CMC – A Canadian court has dismissed a two million dollar lawsuit brought against a Bermuda civil servant by former premier Ewart Brown and his deputy, Derrick Burgess.

The former government ministers had sued Lawrence Brady for conspiracy and defamation, claiming he and a Canadian architect hatched a plot to implicate them in a “kickback” scheme involving the construction of the new police and court building.

Brady, the Government’s Chief Architect when the action was launched, strenuously denied the allegation and applied to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to have the lawsuit against him dismissed.

Judge Stephen Firestone agreed finding that Ontario lacked jurisdiction in the matter.

In his ruling Justice Firestone agreed with Brady’s lawyer attorney Aaron Dantowitz that the action against his client “lacks a real and substantial connection with Ontario” and that if the parties could not agree on costs he would hear submissions.

“Mr Brady is pleased and gratified that the court has agreed with the position taken by his lawyers that the plaintiffs’ action against him should be dismissed.

“The court’s decision confirms his belief that the action against him was not properly before the courts of Ontario,’ said Dantowitz.

But Brown told The Royal Gazette newspaper here that he was disappointed but not surprised at the ruling.

“Someone — we do not know who — attempted to frame a sitting Premier and a sitting Minister. This can only be viewed as a malicious attempt to derail a democratically elected government.

“In many countries, this would be considered treasonous, and would be met by the Government with force, intensive investigation, pursuit and ultimate prosecution. “This did not happen in Bermuda. Our then Governor did not aggressively pursue the criminals behind this egregious act.

“I suppose we cannot expect Canada to do any more than Bermuda — indeed, England — has done.

“Thus, my disappointment in the decision of the Canadian courts pales in comparison to my disappointment in Bermuda and England’s failure to protect and defend the office of the Premier and a member of Bermuda’s Cabinet. We will move on,” Brown said in his statement to the newspaper.

Brown and Burgess had launched their civil action against Brady and fellow architect Sam Spagnuolo in January 2011 following allegations in December 2008 that two cheques had been made out to the two Progressive Labour Party (PLP) former ministers by contractors working on the police and court building.

Police investigated the matters and Brady ­but he was released without charge. However, the local authorities in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted another probe into the possible involvement of Carruthers Shaw and Partners (CS&P), the Canadian firm of architects for whom Spagnuolo worked, but again no one was charged with any criminal offence.

According to a special report released by the Auditor General last year, the investigation did not reveal any wrongdoing by the firm.

The statement of claim filed by Brown and Burgess alleged that Brady and Spagnuolo, a resident of Toronto, Ontario, conspired to plant the false cheques to defame them.

Spagnuolo, who also strenuously denied the allegation, claimed in his statement of defence that the construction company picked to build the police and court building, Landmark Lisgar, was selected against his company’s recommendations and prompted serious concerns over its handling of the job.

The civil suit against Brady and Spagnuolo came under scrutiny by Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews after it came to her attention that more than US$30,000 of public funds were used to pay the initial legal costs of the two former ministers.