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Canadian Lawyer June/July 2018

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10 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m when he departed in 2000, though Lloyd explicitly denies both claims. His defence says he was hired by a Canadian subsidiary of First Security Capi- tal LLC, the company that later changed its name to Derivium, to perform legal con- sulting services. Occasionally, the defence says, this involved advising Derivium- related companies, but Lloyd insists he was never employed or paid directly by the firm. In fact, he says, he only ever visited Derivium's South Carolina office once before he was fired in 2000 and collected just US$190,000 during his three-year involvement with the Canadian subsidiary for his services and to cover expenses. By the time Derivium entered bank- ruptcy protection in 2005, the company had lent out more than US$1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. In 2007, Lloyd discovered he had been named as one of more than 50 defendants in a U.S. action brought by trustees for Derivium, and his statement of defence says he hired a New York lawyer with a narrow brief to resist the complaint by objecting to the jurisdiction of the court in South Carolina and raising the issue of a limitations defence. Without the money to hire a lawyer or travel to South Carolina when the case proceeded, and not wanting to attorn or submit to the jurisdiction of the court, Lloyd's defence explains that he declined to participate in the U.S. action, result- ing in the August 2014 default judgment against him and several other defendants who failed to appear. Lloyd's portion of the damages was assessed by the South Carolina judge as US$150 million, or US$450 million after treble damages were applied. Grayson Consulting, which took an assignment of Derivium's claim in 2012, appealed the U.S. judge's decision in rela- tion to two defendants but not Lloyd, and an appeal court confirmed the original judgment in March 2016. According to Diamond's decision, the company argued that the limitation period for the Ontario action should run from the March 2016 date because this was the earliest point at which the South Caro- lina action had run its course. Grayson also claimed that it only found out about Lloyd's Canadian assets in late 2017. "Once the SC judgment became final (i.e., 30 days after August 22, 2014), Gray- son was under an obligation to conduct itself with due diligence with respect to seeking enforcement opportunities against Lloyd," he wrote in the April 3 judgment. Gil Zvulony, a Toronto lawyer whose practice covers enforcement of foreign judgments in Ontario, says the reference to "due diligence" is a "little scary" for practi- tioners like him. "It's not entirely clear what will count as due diligence. The acceptable level is not spelled out in the decision, and it can be tricky establishing what someone's assets are," he says. However, he says, Diamond's decision lines up with the Court of Appeal's recent decision in Independence Plaza 1 Associ- ates, L.L.C. v. Figliolini, which involved a New Jersey judgment. "It adds more clarity to the law," Zvulony adds. — MICHAEL MCKIERNAN \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ N O RT H \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP U.S. congressman loses claim against Ontario lawyer Continued from page 9 Gil Zvulony Medico - Legal EXPERT WITNESS ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERT AUTHORITY KNOWLEDGE TRUSTED OBJECTIVE ACCURATE Your case is too important. You deserve the best EXPERT WITNESS. Unparalleled expertise from award-winning medical experts. More than 2,000 med mal/personal injury cases & 300+ lawyer clients assisted. A top provider of cost of care reports for your most catastrophically injured clients. CONNECTMLX.COM EXPERTS@CONNECTMLX.COM TOLL FREE: 855-278-9273 ntitled-1 1 2017-11-02 8:41 AM EXPERIMENT IN INUIT LEGAL EDUCATION PASSES FIRST BIG TEST I t is an experiment being watched across the country and not just by people in the legal community. Twenty-five mainly Inuit students in Iqaluit have com- pleted the first year of a special four-year law course designed to bring legal education to the North. The students are preparing for second year, which starts in late August. If they complete the program, they can anticipate a University of Saskatchewan law degree in the spring of 2021. The program is based on an agreement between the Territorial Government of Nunavut and the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. Over the next three years, students in Iqaluit will be taking essentially the same law courses as their peers in Saskatoon. N O RT H

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