At Sawhney Law Office we believe that it is our job to listen and understand your issue, offer a reasoned legal strategy, and put together a plan to solve your problem. We are sensitive to your needs in a time of crisis and are committed to keeping costs down, guided by the principle that access to justice should be a right for all citizens. With 30 years of experience as a lawyer in Ontario in a variety of litigation and appeal matters, the office is able to handle a large variety of simple to complex matters that occur in daily life.
Being involved in a legal issue can be a difficult time. The confusion and stress of the process and outcome often raise more questions than answers. Not knowing who to seek advice from can be stressful. We recognize choosing a lawyer is not an easy job. It is important to feel comfortable in asking questions and expecting answers. We believe listening to your problem with compassion, and having a passion for the law, are our strengths that guide us in solving your legal issue.
We have a strong belief in giving back to the community and strive to make the law work for everyone whom we are in a position to assist. The greatest service one can render is to help someone in need. Occasionally, we are able to provide pro bono services to those who may not be in a position to access legal services due to difficult life circumstances. Making a difference matters to us.
If there is one thing lawyers of distinction emphasize, it is the benefit of overall experience in diverse practice areas that enables one to undertake novel matters that challenge existing precedent. Law breaks new ground every now and then, but we believe this is easier done by lawyers who have substantial experience in court matters of trials and appeals. The wide-ranging experience in civil and commercial litigation as well as appeal matters in the courts and tribunals in Ontario, allows us to represent you effectively.
As the principal of the firm, I have appeared before courts and tribunals at various levels in my wide range of practice areas and have conducted trials and motions in Brampton, Toronto, Milton, Oshawa, and other GTA courts.
My courtroom success and longstanding experience includes corporate litigation of complex matters including corporate partnership, punitive damages award at a personal injury hearing, family law trial resulting in vesting of home in name of applicant, outstanding mediation success in personal injury and long term disbability court litigated matters, dismissal of action in a multiparty litigation matter on Limitations Act and specious discovery of cause of action grounds, setting aside of tax penalties and dismissal of government assessment amounts in the Tax Court of Canada, establishing defendant’s grounds in sale of professional business, settling mortgage proceedings in court, obtaining a tribunal determination of mental capacity for professional continuity of applicant’s livelihood, obtaining court determination of public guardianship, obtaining prior order of lack of grounds for professional conduct hearing, establishing proper disclosure of pre-existing medical condition for collecting on life insurance, establishing grounds for negligent misrepresentation and special relationship test in tortious liability matters, litigating property disputes in legal and beneficial ownership matters, amongst many other civil and commercial matters.
In tribunal litigation, I have conducted national and provincial precedent-setting administrative hearings in employment insurance, disability and workers compensation matters. I have on various occasions brought constitutional challenges in legal interpretations before the courts and the tribunals where circumstances warrant.
I fight hard for the underdog, and have often over-extended himself in championing such cause. In a landmark case, I succeeded in having deputed by the Regional Senior Judge, a single judge in the Superior Court of Justice to hear the whole case to retain the judicial economy of resources and legal cost instead of the potentially contradictory and time consuming process of having to schedule different motions before different judges in the court system.
In a landmark 2014 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada emphasized the significance of single judge case management in civil matters. The highest court has proclaimed now that all the courts in the country should shake up their scheduling systems to bring about efficient, effective and feasible access to justice by simplifying procedures, and by early court review of fact findings that permit early judicial relief under a more flexible and more accessible summary judgment procedure.
The wider ramifications of the decision in all areas of the law are welcoming indeed. The Court of Appeal for Ontario has adapted to this “cultural shift” in judicial thinking to decide without the need for a full-blown trial where summary judgment was not even requested. The shake up will continue to be felt throughout Canada in trying to bring the judicial system within the reach of ordinary citizens.
I am privileged to have fought for this judicial thinking in the courts as one of the only and earliest proponents of such reasoning amongst lawyers. My successful court application a few years ago, with detailed reasons relating to the impact of such a procedure on access to justice for ordinary litigants, the only one on court record of its kind, and a precursor to the single judge case management prescription by the highest court, is available as a public record with the subscription-based Quicklaw legal database.
In all civil and commercial litigation matters, I always try to seek shorter relief measures to simplify procedures. I adopt my clients’ insights to devise strategies relevant to the issues at stake. My experience also tells me how often the client overrates certain views that harden due to being too close to a situation, which makes it necessary to inject objectivity in assessing facts.
Many important decisions where I acted as the lawyer, are reported in the Ontario civil procedure Digest, as well as court and tribunal databases.