Excuse me for the rage and bluntness, but I am shaking here, I am that mad.
Recently, I found out that in regards to this whole Frozen North fiasco, their law firm Hicks Morley visited my aging, infirm grandfather and served papers to him that were supposed to be for me. At an address where I have not lived for FOUR YEARS.
They are denying this, of course, but this is to the best of my knowledge MALPRACTICE and against the Rules of Civil Procedure‘s outline for serving papers to begin a lawsuit.
My grandfather is STILL upset by this, almost two months later. I don’t care so much about things that effect me, but now that this bullshit lawsuit has gone on to target both my charity work and now my family? Enough is enough.
Nice to know that they’re as honest as their clients, I suppose.
So please, folks, help me spread the word on this one. I don’t tolerate injustice well and I get especially growly and protective of my goddamned FAMILY.
Your grandfather could have/should have refused service. They probably served there because it was the last address they could find for you. Failing what’s known as “personal service”, (at which they apparently succeeded), they would have to resort to what’s known as “substituted service” which consists of sending in the mail to your last known address, which presumably gets forwarded. I agree that serving on your grandfather was rude and inconsiderate, but it’s not malpractice, and I can’t see that it violates the Rules. Personal service can be accomplished by serving on a person who appears to be an adult resident at the address – your grandfather qualifies.
Unfortunately, you are incorrect on several counts. That was a) not my last known address, and b) my grandfather is not living on his own anymore because he is incapable of doing so, and the person who visited there (because the docs were served in person) should have been able to tell that he is infirm. So yes, it is malpractice because they DO have my current address here in Toronto on file, I have lived in about four to five places between here and when I last lived at home, and lastly they did not confirm that I was a current resident at my grandfather’s before forcing him to take the papers.
Even if you did live there it still would not count as service since:
Where an attempt is made to effect personal service at a person’s place of residence and for any reason personal service cannot be effected, the document may be served by,
(a) leaving a copy, in a sealed envelope addressed to the person, at the place of residence with anyone who appears to be an adult member of the same household; and
(b) on the same day or the following day mailing another copy of the document to the person at the place of residence,
and service in this manner is effective on the fifth day after the document is mailed. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194, r. 16.03 (5).
I’m not sure what constitutes malpractice, but at the very least, in this situation, you were not served.
I am so not a lawyer, and especially not in Ontario, but it seems that a) you may not have been served; but b) it’s probably not malpractice. Malpractice is a pretty specific thing.
Not being served can be a crazy technical thing. In my “Stop Sign of the Century” case, the city claimed they didn’t get served because I sent papers to City Hall. Apparently City Hall is not where the city “resides.” Huh.
But anyway, you may have some wiggle room about responding to the action in which your grandfather was handed papers. You may be able to convince the court that that doesn’t count as serving you and you’re not responsible for responding to that particular piece of paper. But that just means they get another chance to serve you where you do live, so at best it buys time.