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Below is the text of the Shuttleworths' Statement of Defence
1. This defence is made on behalf of Brefni G. Shuttleworth and Michiko Yano-Shuttleworth, who has been improperly named in the claim by the Plaintiffs.
2. Our family was driven from our home (25 Salem Ave.) by a fire on November 13, 1995.
3. Following the fire our insurance company, Commercial Union ( CU ) refused to honour the insurance policy we had purchased. We were left to care for our family with no compensation for our additional living expenses or lost rental income.
4 There were significant disputes concerning the actions of contractors hired by CU to repair our home (The Alex Taylor Contracting Co. Ltd.) and to prepare an inventory and appraisal, for CU, of the contents of our home (TGA and Son General Contracting Inc.).
5. In an effort to pressure us into accepting, to our prejudice, payment to these contractors ATC stopped repairs and put a lien on our home while TGA seized our household possessions.
6. In the midst of the uncertainty and trauma of our situation the eldest member of our family became terminally ill. In an effort to keep her at home with us and to manage as best we could financially, in August 1996 we set about renting and furnishing an apartment.
7. Even in these circumstances TGA continued to refuse to let us have our furnishings and instead became increasingly aggressive and abusive. In late August 1996 we received a Notice Of Intention To Sell Personal Property (exhibit A) in which TGA proposed to sell our property at public auction on September 7, 1996.
8. At that time we did not have legal representation and we approached Morris Chochla, a partner in the plaintiffs' firm for advice on stopping this auction. Mr. Chochla referred us to James O'Brien.
9. We communicated to Mr. O'Brien our distressing situation and our distaste at being force to agree to payments which we considered amounted to fraud given that TGA and Son were invoicing for work which had not been done. Mr. O'Brien was provided with a signed statement (exhibit B) regarding our concerns.
10. Mr. O'Brien expressed great interest in what he termed the exceptional nature of our situation. However given the complexities of the matter and the pressing deadline of the public auction our instructions to Mr. O'Brien were to deal with one matter at a time and that the auction was the first matter to be resolved.
11. The auction did not take place. However TGA continued to hold our goods. In letters from Mr. O'Brien and a meeting with TGA and CU's adjuster we found Mr. O'Brien assiduous in ingratiating himself with the other side while we were left to advance our own interests.
12. The focus of our energies during September 1996, were taken up in the care of our family and the death of one of our household. In addition we were subjected to a number of break ins at our former home and the theft of a large quantity of our possessions which we had independently inventoried and which were awaiting inspection by CU. We had very little time to appraise ourselves of actions being taken by Mr. O'Brien.
13. When we found time at the beginning of October to acquaint ourselves with Mr. O'Brienžs actions we were appalled to find that he was acting without instructions and to our potential detriment on matters beyond the threatened auction of our goods.
14. The matters between us and CU et al are currently before the court (Court File No 96 CU113885 and CLA 96-CU-1090) and while Mr. O'Brien did not advance our interests, we don't yet know if he has caused us economic harm.
15. We wrote to Mr. O'Brien outlining our concerns (exhibit C) as well as to Mr. Chochla. Their response was an invoice for services for which they were not retained or instructed, which did not advance our interests and for which we derived neither benefit or value.
16. Further information on these matters is available on line at http://www.cuconsumers.org
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Commercial Union ( CGNU Group ) Consumers'
Forum
c/o B.Shuttleworth
P.O.Box 235
Postal Station E
772 Dovercourt Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M6H 2V0
brefni@cuconsumers.org
copyright © 1997-1999 by Brefni Shuttleworth