[1] Manar Srajeldin retained a lawyer, Joseph Zayouna, to bring an action on her behalf against the defendants, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and one of its streetcar drivers, for damages for a personal injury she had suffered in a collision with a streetcar in 2009 (“the Claim”). A year later, when a Claims Adjuster for the TTC offered to pay an amount to settle the matter, Mr. Zayouna immediately and falsely informed him that he had received instructions to settle the matter for the amount that the Adjuster had offered.
[57] In the present case, Mr. Zayouna’s conduct in accepting the TTC’s Offer without authority or instructions from his client in advance, and sending a misleading e-mail to the TTC’s Adjuster, knowing that it was likely to be construed as an acceptance of their Offer, went beyond mere negligence. Even according to the test that pre-dated the enactment of Rule 57.07, Mr. Zayona’s conduct was inexcusable and merits reproof. He knowingly placed his client at risk of having her claim for damages for a personal injury compromised without her consent. In doing so, he delayed the resolution of her action and caused all of the parties to incur the otherwise unnecessary costs of this motion.