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 personal zoo from establishing itself within the Ontario city has disintegrated into infighting between the zoo and its legal professionals over unpaid authorized charges. 

Courtroom 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 personal zoo that after housed as much as 10 large cats inside Grand Bend. 

Drysdale and Nyyssonen have 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 inside the group and sought a court docket order to close down their enterprise in February 2021. 

Now, it seems the couple’s lawsuit towards 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 accomplice who as soon as represented the defunct zoo, advised CBC Information in an e-mail Friday. 

Attorneys cannot act towards shoppers until they minimize relationship

As a result of Ontario’s guidelines {of professional} process forestall legal professionals from appearing towards 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 accomplice with Toronto-based Sabsay Attorneys who has been practising each felony and civil litigation for many years, stated circumstances like these, the place a legislation agency litigates towards a former consumer, are exceedingly uncommon and indicative of the state of the connection between each events. 

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

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

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

Usually when legal professionals are owed cash, he stated, they settle will former shoppers. Nonetheless, on this case, it seems Siskinds has sought a judgment to grab property from the previous couple and the zoo with a view to recoup their prices. 

“They will go in, they’ll seize the property they usually can promote the property to get their cash,” he stated. “I believe I’ve had one, possibly two [of these] in my entire profession and I have been a lawyer for 35 years. It is not one thing that occurs rather a lot.”

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

Courtroom officers stated the file remains to be lively, however it has no materials filed since Might 2020.