Legal Blog

Lawyer and Non-Client

Furney v. Hazan and Chhina 2025 Ont CA

Plaintiffs claimed that a mortgage broker improperly instructed its lawyer to register a collateral mortgage without plaintiffs’ consent and that the lawyer registered the collateral mortgage to block plaintiffs’ mortgage financing and was involved in the improper removal of funds from his trust account. Plaintiffs also alleged that another entity, other than the lender, was somehow involved. The Court of Appeal dismissed the action against the other entity because it was not the lender and plaintiffs pleaded nothing to demonstrate its involvement. The Court allowed the action against the lawyer to continue, even though the lawyer was not plaintiffs’ lawyer, because plaintiffs had alleged that lawyer had participated in a fraud and merely following his client’s instructions did not insulate him from liability.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.