Disgraced lawyers settle suit by Roma refugees
Insurers representing lawyers to pay $500,000 to eligible class members
“It is unfortunate these vulnerable people were let down by the very lawyers they relied upon for advice and skilled representation.”
SEAN BROWN LAWYER
Three Toronto lawyers who were found guilty of professional misconduct in handling Roma refugees’ asylum claims have settled a class-action lawsuit by their former clients.
According to a recently released settlement agreement, the insurers representing the lawyers — Viktor Hohots, Joseph Farkas and Erzsebet Jaszi — will pay approximately $500,000 in total damages to the eligible class members.
The settlement, if approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice at a scheduled hearing on Sept. 11, will conclude another chapter of a decade-old campaign by advocates and Roma refugees, who have complained about being shortchanged by Canada’s asylum system due to poor legal representation and discriminatory government policies.
“We are pleased that our clients will get some compensation after all this time,” the Roma’s lawyer, Sean Brown, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate these vulnerable people were let down by the very lawyers they relied upon for advice and skilled representation. The settlement of this matter will give our clients much-needed closure.”
As part of the settlement, the lawyers denied all the claims, as well as any wrongdoing and liability of any kind, made by the litigants in the lawsuit.
In return, the failed Hungarian Roma refugees agreed the resolution was “fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the class.”
The litigation began in 2017 as three individual lawsuits by five
Hungarian Roma refugees, which were merged into one due to the similar nature of the accusations.
It was alleged that the lawyers exhibited “a systemic pattern of conduct, which resulted in many of the defendant’s clients receiving inadequate and negligent service, such that they lost the opportunity to have their claims decided on their merits.”
All three lawyers had previously been found guilty by the Ontario Law Society Tribunal of failing to properly serve their clients.
The seeds of the legal action were sown back in 2011 when community groups and refugees’ advocates began investigating after hearing stories from Hungarian refugee claimants about inadequate legal representation they said they were receiving.
The claimants alleged the lawyers abdicated their responsibilities and inappropriately passed their professional tasks to others; failed to complete and file the narrative of the clients’ claim with supporting evidence; filed “manifestly inadequate and incorrect” information in the clients’ claim; and failed to appear at asylum hearings.
The lawsuit covers all refugee claimants from Hungary who retained Hohots, Farkas and Jaszi (now deceased) between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2013, and had their claims refused or abandoned while under their legal representation.
The class action covers about 900 eligible members.
Those who would like to opt out of the settlement and continue to pursue their own claims have until Aug. 20 to do so.
Now the legal battle is over, the Roma community is setting its eyes on an official apology from the federal government, which it says fuelled “overt institutionalized discrimination” against Hungarian and Czech Roma under then Conservative immigration minister Jason Kenney.
Gina Csanyi-Robah, executive director of the Canadian Romani Alliance, said Kenney, now Alberta’s premier, then characterized Roma as “bogus refugees” who were here to exploit Canadian health care and welfare.
Kenney introduced new laws in 2012 to stream asylum claims and fast-track those who came from the so-called “safe countries of origin,” including Hungary and the Czech Republic. Those policy changes were ultimately declared unconstitutional by court.
“The success of this class action lawsuit is a massive victory for the Roma community. Jason Kenney’s discriminatory comments resulted in many Roma being treated differently by some Canadians, who began to look at us as cheaters, swindlers and liars,” Csanyi-Robah said.
“An apology is very important, because it’s an acknowledgment of wrongdoing that hurt our Canadian Roma community and made thousands of Roma refugees feel unwelcomed. Discrimination needs to be acknowledged so we can move toward a society that will not tolerate it.”