Decision on the attempt to stop Jonathan Dennis from his sentence for contempt

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“If the appeal is ultimately successful and this court overturns the finding of contempt, Mr Dennis has not shown why this will not do any damage to his reputation.”

Former Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Dennis has failed to overturn his contempt of court sentence. Photo by David Bloom / Postmedia

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Former Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Dennis has failed to overturn his contempt of court sentence.

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Dennis, the Minister of Justice of the Progressive Conservatives from 2012 to 2015, was found guilty last month in an attempt to intimidate Dr Ani Sovajo by sending a letter to her lawyer during the process of her lawsuit for wrongful dismissal for 7, $ 5 million.

Last week, Dennis asked the Court of Appeals to drop the charge of contempt pending an appeal, arguing that Queen Bench judge Doreen Sulima had failed to meet procedural guarantees to find him guilty.

Dennis said the finding of disrespect caused “irreparable” damage to his reputation, forcing three lawyers and at least one client to leave his company. He said he now risks “being excluded from business and losing market share”.

However, the Ritu Hular Court of Appeals refused to overturn the sentence and also rejected the request for a speedy appeal.

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“If the appeal is ultimately successful and this court overturns the finding of contempt, Mr Dennis has not shown why this will not do any damage to his reputation,” Hular wrote.

She added that Dennis “overestimates the possibility of staying awaiting an appeal to stop damaging his reputation.”

“Act of intimidation”

Sovajo was Alberta’s chief medical examiner from 2011 to 2014 and claims she was forced to leave her job because she opposed political interference in her office. The trial against her continues and the allegations have not been proven in court.

On April 7, a week after the trial, Sovajo’s lawyer received a letter entitled “Defamation by Dr. Ani Sovajo.” Sent by a junior lawyer with Denis’s Guardian Law Group, it accused Sauvageau of slandering Denis in her testimony and running a “seven-year defamation and harassment campaign” against him.

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Dr. Ani Sovajo, a former deputy chief medical examiner in the province. Photo by Larry Wong / Postmedia, file

The letter halted the eight-week trial, and Sulima and Sovajo’s lawyer said they had never faced a similar situation in their combined 85 years of legal practice.

Later that month, Sulima ruled that Dennis’s letter was an “act of intimidation.”

She accepted Sovajo’s claim that although her testimony was protected by absolute privilege, the threat of a lawsuit made her afraid to testify. Dennis later apologized to the court through his lawyer, but Sulima dismissed his characterization of the situation as a “misunderstanding.”

Convictions include fines and up to two years in prison for contempt of court.

Last week, Dennis’s lawyer appeared before Khullar in a hearing, asking the high court to suspend Sulima’s contempt finding until a full appeal.

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Brendan Miller said the contempt hearing should have been considered by a separate judge as part of a three-part trial, including an opportunity for Dennis to cross-examine Sovijo and call evidence. He claims that Sulima combined the first two parts of the hearing, “although it was not urgent or necessary to do so.”

Miller told Hular that the appellate court must intervene to “stop the bleeding” before fully appealing the contempt sentence. In written statements, Dennis said the stay would send a message, “that this complaint is well-founded, has the potential for Judge Sulima to be wrong, and I still have a fair chance to justify and defend myself.”

Dennis failed to prove damage to his reputation: a judge

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While Hular found out that Dennis had cleared one of the obstacles to his stay, she said he had failed to prove that he had suffered “irreparable” damage to his reputation that could be remedied by the court.

She did not agree that the stay would send any notice as to the merits of his complaint.

“All he writes is that there is a serious issue that needs to be resolved regarding the finding of disrespect and that the rest of the stay test has been passed.”

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She added that the suspension could lead to the proceedings becoming a “contribution lawsuit”, which she said “is not an efficient use of limited judicial resources”.

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In an email, Miller said Dennis was “pleased that the Court of Appeal noted that there was a serious issue that needed to be addressed in our position that the proper procedure at lower instance had not been followed.”

“This question is related to a letter sent from one lawyer to another, and we believe that it could have had a completely different outcome if the right procedure had been followed.”

Neither Sauvageau nor the Alberta government – the only remaining defendant in the case – argued for the suspension.

A date has not been set for Denis’ conviction.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jonnywakefield

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