Legal Case: Gomez Tables & Chairs V. Chairs R Us - Ontario Superior Court Of Justice Essay.

You are a licensed paralegal, contacted by your new client Frederica Gomez on February 3^rd, 2016.  She carries on business as Gomez Tables & Chairs at 132 Cherry Lane in the City of Oshawa, Ontario (the business postal code is L1H 1B9 and the telephone number is (905) 488-2900 with a fax number of (905) 488-2432. Your client told you that she sold Walter Smithy 100 dining room chairs at a cost of $125.00 each plus HST on November 15, 2015 with terms of payment in 30 days.  An interest charge of 6% was indicated on the invoice commencing the day following the payment due date of December 15^th, 2015.

These chairs were delivered to Smithy’s place of business in Toronto on November 16^th.  Frederica tells you that despite many phone calls, Mr. Walter Smithy, who operates a business called “Chairs R Us” at 380 Canarctic Drive in Toronto, Ontario (postal code M3J 2R9, telephone number (416) 722-1526) has refused to pay the invoice.  At the time the order was placed he gave a post dated cheque dated December 15, 2015 for $1,000.00 which was returned by the bank marked “insufficient funds” at a charge to your client from their bank of $25.00.

Your client advises you that Walter’s wife Amelda Smithy works with Walter Smithy, but you are not sure of the nature of the legal entity operated as Chairs R Us.  There is no corporate entity in the government database.  You suspect they may be partners, but your client is not sure.  After doing an online search, you cannot find a name of a registered corporation and in fact, even an online search under the Business Names Act does not reveal a company name registered as Chairs R Us.  You suspect it is a partnership, but you have no way of knowing as it appears they have not registered the business name as required.

You are instructed by the client to issue a claim in the proper court.  The assignment is as follows

• Immediately after you are retained, draft a Demand Letter to be sent to the debtor(s). 

• Draft the original invoice for the claim to be attached to the Demand Letter & Plaintiff’s Claim using the facts as above.
• Draft the Plaintiff’s Claim in the proper Court jurisdiction.  Do not use the space in the box on the Plaintiff’s Claim form to do your pleadings, create a separate Appendix A to be attached to the form.  Make sure you include yourself as the agent for your client with your contact information in the appropriate part of the claim. Instead of a FAX number you should use your student number at Humber. 
• Assuming for the purposes of this question that the invoice did notmention interest, indicate the pre-judgment interest rate given in the table under section 127 of the Courts of Justice Act and noting section 128(1) of the Courts of Justice Act, both of which are found in the Attorney General’s website.  Assuming that the Plaintiff’s Claim will be filed and issued on February 15^th, 2016, calculate the amount of pre-judgment interest owed to the date the claim is issued.  Put your answers on a separate page from the claim 
• Remember to attach to your claim all the relevant documents as required by the Rules. Include at least one additional document in addition to the invoice that might be included and relevant to this type of claim based on the facts above.  
• Draft and submit two different affidavits of service for Walter only.  Each of the two affidavits should be by a different method of service under Rule 8 that could apply in this fact situation. For each method picked show the corresponding Rule number, again using the separate page from the claim. (6 marks)
• Draft the appropriate Small Claims Court document(s) that you will provide to the Court and that you will serve on Mr. and Ms. Smithy in an effort to advise them that you consider them to be partners in the firm Chairs R Us.
• The matter did not settle at the settlement conference in May, but went to trial in August.  Assuming you are awarded a judgment dated August 9^th, 2016 and that the statutory CJA interest rate stayed the same for all of 2016, what would be the post judgment interest rateunder section 127 of the Courts of Justice Act?  Put your answers on a separate page from the claim (put your answers on the same page as in #4 & #6 above). 

• Assuming you are awarded a judgment for the full amount of the claim in a judgment dated August 9^th, 2016, what would be the total amountof pre-judgment interest awarded to you based on the interest rate printed on the sales invoice?  Put your answers on the separate page as above. 

• What is the address of the Courthouse where you will file this and why How many copies of the claim will you bring to the Court?  Put your answers on the separate page as above.  

• What will be the cost for the plaintiff to issue this claim Put your answers on the separate page as above. 

On November 15, 2015 Gomez Tables & Chairs sold 100 dining room chairs for a contract price of $125.00 each.  At the point of time Walter Smithy placed the order, and gave a cheque of $10000 and same was bounced as the account did not had sufficient funds, bank also penalized $25. I called you so many times but you didn’t responded. A polite request is made by me to make the payment in full as soon as possible or else I have the right to initiate legal proceedings to recover my debt.

Pre interest rate according to section 127 and 128(1) of the Courts of Justice Act is .8% (Post and Pre judgment rates, 2016). By making assumption that claim is filed and issued on February 15^th, 2016 then amount of pre-judgment interest owed till the date of the claim issued is as follows:

Total due amount: $12500.00 (Amount of chairs) + $1000.00 (HST) = $13500.00

Interest: $13500.00*.8 %* (3^#/12)

Due interest: $27.00

^# Three months as interest as to be paid from 15^th November to 14^th February

Courts of Justice Act I

NFORMATION FOR COURT USE ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

(General heading)

INFORMATION FOR COURT USE

1. This proceeding is an:  []action [] application
2. According to the Class Proceedings Act, 1922, has been initiated? [] yes [] no
3. The claim in this proceeding (action or application) regarding:

Two different affidavits of service for Walter only are as follows:

Plaintiff’s or Defendant’s Claim

8.01(1) Claim by plaintiff or defendant in (Form 7A or 10A) shall be served on individual basis as provided in rule 8.02 or in alternative to this it can be provided as personal service as provided in rule 8.03.

This defense is been registered in support of: Walter Smithy, Amelda

And I/we (check as many as apply)

Argue the claim made in opposition to me/us

Acknowledge the whole claim and use the following conditions of payment  

$ 13500 per   commencing on 15 November 2016

Acknowledge claim’s part in sum of $25 and use the following payment conditions

Purpose in behalf of Claim’s disputing:

What happened: In the given case the plaintiff sold 100 chairs to the defender at the price of $125 each in addition to HSV, and the payment was to be done with 30 days. Further the payment was not done by the defender and the cheque he gave at the time of order was bounced and the plaintiff was penalized $25 by the bank. Now, plaintiff wants to claim against the defender to pay off the debts inclusive of the interest and penalty charges. 

Where: Toronto, Ontario

When: 15 November 2016

Post interest rate in the given case scenario would be 2% and interest will be applicable from date of due invoice to date of award of the cited dispute. Rate has been supported by section 127 of the Courts of Justice Act (Post and Pre judgment rates, 2016).

Total due amount: $12500.00 (Amount of chairs) + $1000.00 (HST) = $13500.00

Interest: $13500.00*6 %* (262^#/365)

Due interest: $582.00

^# 262 days are considered as interest as to be paid from 15^th November to 9^th August

Cited case will be filed in Toronto Courthouse Court situated in Toronto, ON, Canada.  This case will be filed in this court because it deals with civil disputes by covering areas such as commercial disputes, negligence claims, property disputes, bankruptcies family disputes, and corporate reorganizations (Gosline and Greenbaum, 2016). Claim is to be file with three copies.

There is standardized amount of $182 in order to file an action, in Ontario. As described above, court costs can be compensated as payments are according to the rules regarding the variation of fees and costs (Lareau and et.al. 2016). Fees of lawyers are based on the market forces and it does not have any legal or authorized control over them. In accordance to the latest survey, in Ontario fees of lawyer per hour is $382.

References

Gosline, A. & Greenbaum, M., (2016). Attorney's Fees and Costs (Vol. 4). Labor and Employment Law.

Lareau, N.P., & et.al. , (2016). Attorney's Fees and Costs (Vol. 4). Labor and Employment Law.

Post and Pre judgment rates, (201). [Online]. Available through <?https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/interestrates.phparound-world/&gt.>[Accessed on 21^st July 2017].