Dear my friends, Do you seek a lawyer for help? Read this before hiring anyone:
Nightmare--experience With My Lawyers
http://69.59.142.36/bbs/showthread.php?t=63262
I am a very traditional Chinese who like some other cultures (Jews for instance) respect their own words and make contracts once the words are out of their mouth. But I discovered this is not the world I was going through in the following years! Many people are dishonest, and selfish. Based on my values, I was naïve, I trusted these lawyers and all of this caused me more and more suffering until recently.
This lesson has taught me that there is no justice no matter how. Only money counts, And if the amount is significant, greed could push my own lawyer to become my worst enemy!
For nearly ten years, I never had a chance to meet a good lawyer, so it led me to lose everything I owned. It has put me in an unending nightmare. That is the reason why I have been unable to work because I cannot accept that injustice that fell upon my family and myself.
Below are descriptions of the events that happened with each of these lawyers. After reading those descriptions you will understand why I lost trust and hope gradually. My personal life went into a “deep shit” because of these people, and they just walked away without any consequences for their misbehaviour.
Enza Martucelli—Dec. 2, 1995 to …This was the first lawyer I ever used in my life, and this encounter brought my life into a nightmare up until today…
She was sent by the YWCA and she was working at their legal clinic from time to time. I later learned that she had been disbarred since 1994 and also had a criminal record since 1991.
So she became a legal and family supporter when my late wife was in Montreal General Hospital Intensive Care Unit, fighting for her life following a terrible accident.
She defrauded me of $20,000.00 and also tried to get involved with my restaurant business. When the MUC Police removed her from my restaurant Sawatdee, I did a favor to help the Police protect the public by letting them use my evidences against my former lawyer Enza Martucelli.
Even though I brought some evidences to the MUC Police, Enza threatened me, the MUC Police detective and the Crown Prosecutor. She also called different government agencies to put me in trouble and managed to send mafia to my restaurant.
She successfully convinced my former employee Qingrui He to cooperate with her. Together, they registered a personal company using my restaurant’s name and address, then within three weeks, they stole $35,000 worth of sales from my restaurant until I discovered it.
Under a MUC Police investigation, they tried to walk away from criminal charges, without any proof. They both of them went the Superior Court and launched a lawsuit against me asking for $400,000 damages, claiming they owned an equal share in my company Maison Chuan Yang Inc
The MUC Police told me that the evidence against them sounded good, and I should not worry since they will take care of this. But in fact it didn’t turn out the way they had predicted: the “criminals” successfully took advantage of the legal and justice system, they illegally operated my restaurant business without any punishment.
After that, the MUC Police and the Crown prosecutor didn’t want to be involved anymore with my case. So I tried to get some support from government agencies and medias. Finally Hour Magazine came to visit me in Jewish General Hospital where I was hospitalized, and published my story. The article that mentioned if the MUC Police wanted to arrest Enza Martucelli, they may find her in Sawatdee Restaurant because she was facing a court arrest order since 1997! But no one wanted to do anything to stop them. Then in June 1998, the MUC Police detective informed me that I should go to a criminal court as a witness since they went to close the case where she was involved (1997).
At the criminal court, the MUC Police and the Crown Prosecutor just wanted to close the case, claiming they shouldn’t waste citizens’ money on such a case. Instead of using my evidence, they used surround evidence of a $1,480 brought to the judge. Enza Martucelli pleaded guilty, so the judge wanted to settle my case and asked her what she wanted to do before he granted a sentence. So she convinced the judge that she would rather settle with me at a civil court instead of a criminal court. I was not called to testify!
Gilles Poulin & Anik Poulin—Jan. 1996 to Oct. 2003 Gilles Poulin was the former boss of Enza Martucelli, Enza bought me to him and convinced me that if I was lucky he would accept my case to against Le Buffet Heberge, which was the party responsible for my late wife tragic accident.
I paid a $2,000 advance to let him start the case. He told me his fees vary from 20 to 30%. The advanced deposit will be refunded when the case is won. I told him with a split of 25% for him and 75% for myself, I wished he would do better with my case!
When I got troubles with Enza Martucelli, the judge appointed him with the case she invented since Enza claimed to the judge that Gilles Poulin was my attorney. But he never mentioned to me that Enza Martucelli was no longer a lawyer because she had a criminal record. Instead, he put pressure on me, made me sign the contract otherwise he would not show up at the court, if he were so requested by the judge.
In the contract, his fees became suddenly 25% compensation plus tax. Also the court costs recovery belonged to him if he successfully got them back from the defendant. He promised that he would find a way to settle the tax parts once the case had been settled and that I shouldn’t worry about all this!
However the result is this: he took another $2,000 from me, which just made me to pay $100 to the lawyer that I suppose I don’t have to, return the computer and two shipping boxes to Enza Martucelli and Qingrui He, but he even never spoke to the judge about the facts!
He even never got back to me any single document hold by Enza as he had previously promised. Instead, he asked me to pay him another $5,000 right away in order to represent me in the case against me. Otherwise he would withdraw from representations. Given that I just got another fraud and I had lost $35,000 of sales, I requested him if he would let me pay him later since I had already given him an important case. But he refused.
With my late wife case, he refused to sue the doctor and the hospital for their negligence and disrespect for basic human rights. He never registered the case until 1998 (4 years of interests lost in a claim from compensation!), and he also never helped me analyze the right amount I should have asked.
Gilles Poulin never actively searched the evidence. I was the one who would initiate to provide all the strong proofs to support my case: like the document of my factory joint-venture Jiaxing Lailin Perfume Co. LTD. in China; like my Federal & Provincial Government half million undeclared income claim, also my psychiatry doctor medical report, my personal bankruptcy papers etc.
Instead, he asked me if I would accept a $30,000 settlement, then $80,000, and $150,000 till $200,000. When I refused, he convinced my eldest daughter because now she had turned 18 and she could make a decision on her own. He always tried to convinced us to settle for less otherwise we’d have to deposit another amount of $7,000 in order to start the legal procedure. He used all kind of excuses to avoid my questions about the unreasonable delay to proceed with this case.
In August 2003, having no other options, we agreed to meet with a mediator. I had no more money to pay him, but at the same time, before even discussing the settlement, he never told me what amount I should take and just asked us how much we wanted to put in our pocket. He also convinced us that we should reduce our total claim of about 30-40 %...because this is the settlement…
I brought all the facts to persuade the mediator that a 75% compensation for the settlement was a low amount for us according to the situation we are dealing with. The mediator disagreed to let us claim 4 years of interests and he told Anik as she is our attorney she should take care of that. I told Anik that since I have had so many legal problems to deal with, I gave up my claim for interests and choose the possibility of getting more legal services to help me out. We made a deal.
But when the compensation got to Gilles and Anik Poulin , they went beyond 25% from the compensation and added an extra $6,000 legal costs, which were previously included within their agreed 25%. They also added the tax on it which he agreed will find a way to settle. Furthermore, they refused to provide any legal services to me to cover the interests, and they refused to return a $2,000 deposit which they should have me refunded.
Of course I disagreed. Then they hold us we had become hostages… Up to today, they did not answered yet about my request for a detailed legal costs and services invoice with his signature of official receipt!
Stephen Angers—Feb. 2, 1996 to May 14, 1996
Stephen replaced Gilles Poulin and had been introduced by my former social worker to straight out with all the trouble Enza Martucelli had cost me with her $6,000 legal fees. I worried that $6,000 might not suffice to cover his costs and fees. I mentioned to him how many jobs he had to do about my restaurant insurance company.
He told me since I have a good lawyer, I should let my worries upon his shoulders and I should stay home and rest. The result with his job was that I agreed to add another $2,000 for his services and he promised me he would prepare a contract for me to sign, which was never prepared.
Stephen never proceeded the case against Enza & He, and he even never appealed to the court for the case against me on Feb 6th 1996; he also let the criminals seized my restaurant, Sawatdee, my personal savings including my RRSP and my eldest daughter’s savings account. My bank manager Madam Tina luckily protected my eldest daughter since I had dealt with this bank for many years and she knew the situation we involved in.
Furthermore, he referred my former employees to the Quebec Labor Department for lost salaries because of the fraud. Luckily only one employee reported to that Department and the others refused to do so because they knew that I never had acted towards them as a boss. Moreover, without my knowledge, he withdrew the complaints I had previously made with MUC Police. I just learned about this last year from a chief crown prosecutor.
On the other hand, Stephen squeezed more money from me and as much as possible: I paid him a $3,000 advance from the very beginning and although all my savings were seized, I still let him took $10,000 out of my import cost of silk cloth merchandise to secure the work he would provide for me. But once he saw I was holding $100,000 of merchandise, instead of trying to solve my legal problems, he introduced himself to my merchant agent and claimed he would help me to get some cash money for living since he had a lot of connections.
The results with his work were that once I had disagreed to let him sell my merchandise less one dollar a piece, by then, he never proceeded the case against the criminals at both court—civil & criminal as he had previously promised to do so. Even his employee, Me France St-Denis, also wondered why he had never done anything with my case.
Late on, I was shocked to learn from the chief Cown Prosecutor that Stephen Angers withdrawal my complaint for fraud filed with MUC Police!
Robert Emond—Oct. 2000 …
Robert is another lawyer from Michael’s team. He was the lawyer who was supposed to replace my former Chinese lawyer against the Chinese local government regarding my $100,000 CDN investment fraud with my factory Jiaxing Lailin Perfume Co. Limited.. My eldest sister with my Chinese lawyer in China failed with each levels of legal and complaint system in Mainland China although they got the evidence about a crime technology identification report from the Chinese provincial Police.
Robert told me he totally understood my situation because of weak legal system in China, which caused law and justice in China is to be not well protected. He told me that he had a lot of connections with politicians at the Federal level and manages billions of dollars of Canadian investment. His firm directly formed the project in China for our Canadian investors. He knew how to handle my case for the investment fraud with Lailin.
With a contract of $1,000 US advanced deposit and 10% of compensation for his fees, once I had sent to him the advanced deposit, half a year had passed and he had not done anything yet. So I asked him what was the outcome of his lunch meeting with our Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Shanghai. He had promised that he would bring my case to get intention for the politicians, and how about the billions dollars of Canadian investment since he promised that he would hold these investments to put some pressure on the Chinese local government till my case get settled.
Robert never replied to my letter until I requested him to provide a proof of what he had done and which step he took with my case according to our agreement. Robert claimed that he had already tried, but nothing worked out, and he tried to convince me to clarify from the factory for whatever they want to give back to me.
I told him that this was what the Chinese local government want to do, and that was the reason why I had hired him to replace the Chinese lawyer hired before. By then, Robert tried to avoid me and even refused to receive the registered letter I sent him.
When I went to Shanghai in 2002, he had closed his office and had disappeared from Shanghai.
Gian Michele Cerundolo—Aug. 2001 …
When the Bank promised they would provide a new lease for us because I had made a complaint to its Ombudsman, someone introduced Gian to me to help me fix the lease I had prepared, and to represent Sunny Investment and Opium Thai Cuisine settle with the bank and Canton Inn for the compensation.
Gian told me that for about $500 he would be able to cover his costs. I paid him a $200 advance, and he asked me to leave all the copy of evidences and documents to him. I mentioned to him that I had already settled with Canton Inn since its lawyer had told Canton Inn to give up, which I believed supposed our claim for damages from the bank because the bank had locked out both of us .
Gian didn’t listen to me, and he disagreed to claim the damages from the bank, and instead threatened Canton Inn’s lawyer to pay zero dollars. We had both already agreed to a $10,000 final payment to Canton Inn. When Canton Inn’s lawyer refused his argument, he didn’t want to deal with the bank, and he claimed that the bank should prepare a lease, not him.
Jacob L. Rothman—March 2003 …
Jacob L. Rothman was introduced by Me Frank who was appointed by Legal Aid to help me analyzing my legal injustice difficulties. Me Frank advice that I should claim from Quebec Bar insurance for some lawyers who negligently with my legal issues; since Mr. Frank his firm is representing for Bank of Montreal, and he recommended Rothman to represent a case to against Bank of Montreal for my damages.
It will be continue soon.
About Barreau du Québec
As mentioned earlier, Me Frank (introduced by Legal Aid with Legal Aid mandate for consultation) sent me back to Barreau du Quebec and he believed that some lawyers should be held responsible for my damage and suffering. the Barreau is supposed to take care because a lawyer who is practicing law must have an insurance to cover. This is another nightmare because this system does not really protect the clients. In most of the cases, the Barreau just stands on the lawyers’ side and tries to find all kind of reasons to cover up for them!
I agree there are some fair lawyers, and I still believe that, but they’re very hard to find! My 10 years of life experience has proven otherwise. If this had been so widespread, my life would not be worse to the point it has become today.
I publish this to let people realize what kind system we live in. I also hope through my story that people might find a better way to avoid the major suffering what I have dealt with, in order to live a life of quality, the kind of life most of the citizens live!
個人不幸經曆參考: SUMMARY OF BEING A VICTIM OF CRIME AND IMJUSTICE
http://www.sinoquebec.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=336895
探討-如何盡可能的避免掉入不良律師的陷阱?
http://www.sinomontreal.ca/bbs/showthread.php?t=376607
|
|||
有同感
我沒有時間很好地看完,也沒有這方麵太多的體會,但是就憑我個人與律師打交道的那一點點經驗,我已經深切的明白,如果有一天,你的生活中有重大事件要依賴律師的話你就完了。在堂堂正正的法製社會中,不知道你知不知道,存在著不少專業偷兒。
|
|
|||
we support and encourage u to continue your battle of justice redressement.
i've read your story at least three or four times, at different places and in different times. i'm so touched by your story, and i'm so shocked to learn the 'true face' of this country's seemingly faire system of justice, and, most importantly, i despise these blood-sucking lawyers. finally, i'm really relaxed to find u are so strong that u become to help people in need with your extraordinary experience and your hard earned legal knowledge. your words are appreciated in this site through your acts, and you are the model of our chinese immigrants.
there are always some chinese people who only care about their own backyard, and divert people's attention by self-praising and devauling others in this way or other way, like two guys in this column. don't speak to them, for they are not deserved. i despise these people, means and lacking understanding and fraternity..... justice must be done. i don't care in this earthly world or in the heaven. thanks u for telling us your personal story, and feel sorry for... |