Roaring Cat Retreat lawsuit on maintain after zoo’s lawyer takes former consumer to court docket

A $5-million lawsuit claiming city officers in Grand Bend held secret conferences and abused their authority to stop a non-public zoo from establishing itself within the Ontario city has disintegrated into infighting between the zoo and its attorneys over unpaid authorized charges. 

Court docket paperwork present London, Ont.-based legislation agency Siskinds LLP now not represents Mark Drysdale and Tammy Nyyssonen within the former couple’s authorized gambit to hunt damages from the Municipality of Lambton Shores after it shut down Roaring Cat Retreat, a non-public zoo that when housed as much as 10 large cats inside Grand Bend. 

Drysdale and Nyyssonen had been in search of $5.25 million in damages after the city imposed an unique animal possession bylaw in April 2019 that banned the possession of lions and tigers throughout the neighborhood and sought a court docket order to close down their enterprise in February 2021. 

Now, it seems the couple’s lawsuit in opposition to city officers, which hasn’t been confirmed in court docket, has imploded after Siskinds LLP, which as soon as represented them, filed a separate court docket motion in search of $217,119.23 in unpaid authorized charges. 

Drysdale and Nyyssonen didn’t instantly return a request for remark. 

“I can advise is that we’re now not representing Roaring Cat,” Paula Lombardi, the Siskinds associate who as soon as represented the defunct zoo, informed CBC Information in an e mail Friday. 

Attorneys cannot act in opposition to shoppers until they lower relationship

As a result of Ontario’s guidelines {of professional} process forestall attorneys from performing in opposition to their very own shoppers whereas they’re representing them, it is clear each events are now not in enterprise, say authorized insiders. 

Lorne Sabsay, a associate with Toronto-based Sabsay Attorneys who has been practising each prison and civil litigation for many years, mentioned circumstances like these, the place a legislation agency litigates in opposition to a former consumer, are exceedingly uncommon and indicative of the state of the connection between each events. 

“I’d say the relations are a complete lot extra than simply strained — they’re at an finish,” he mentioned. 

Sabsay was proven court docket paperwork within the case that had been obtained by CBC Information. Based mostly on what he noticed, Sabsay mentioned, it is clear Siskinds was owed a considerable sum of money and is in search of redress via the courts. 

I’d say the relations are a complete lot extra than simply strained — they’re at an finish.– Lorne Sabsay

Usually when attorneys are owed cash, he mentioned, they settle will former shoppers. Nevertheless, on this case, it seems Siskinds has sought a judgment to grab property from the previous couple and the zoo so as to recoup their prices. 

“They will go in, they’ll seize the property they usually can promote the property to get their cash,” he mentioned. “I feel I’ve had one, perhaps two [of these] in my complete profession and I have been a lawyer for 35 years. It isn’t one thing that occurs lots.”

As to what this implies for the lawsuit in opposition to the Municipality of Lambton Shores is unsure. Officers with the municipality didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark from CBC Information. 

Court docket officers mentioned the file remains to be energetic, however it has no materials filed since Could 2020.