Lawyers want Andy Srougi Silenced

Bar has had it up to here with bridge-climber

Lawyers want Srougi, Fathers 4 Justice reined in as vexatious litigants

A Fathers 4 Justice activist who caused a massive traffic jam in September 2005 by scaling the Jacques Cartier Bridge could soon be prohibited from using one of his latest protest tactics if a court case filed by the Quebec Bar is successful.

So far, Andy Srougi has filed about 15 disciplinary complaints against members of the Quebec Bar, accusing his targets of a host of unprofessional and even illegal practices.

He has taken aim at family- law lawyers and even Quebec ministers, including Justice Minister Pierre Marcoux.

Enough is enough, the Quebec Bar says.

It has asked Quebec Superior Court to declare both Srougi and Fathers 4 Justice Quebec vexatious litigants - or "quarrelsome" litigants, as is now the English translation in the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure.

Fathers 4 Justice campaigns for greater parental rights for divorced fathers.

If the motion is granted, Srougi and Fathers 4 Justice would be prohibited from filing any legal cases against members of the bar unless permission is first obtained from a Superior Court judge.

The case was heard last month by Associate Chief Justice Andre Wery, who has given the parties until 5 p.m. today to submit written arguments.

"It's all bull---t," Srougi said Friday.

"The whole system is so corrupt, none of this is surprising."

Fathers 4 Justice president Daniel Laforest said his organization maintains Srougi is acting independently and any quarrelsome designation shouldn't be extended to them.

"As Fathers 4 Justice Quebec Inc., we've never taken legal action against anyone," he said.

"It's a never-ending pattern," bar lawyer Daniel Chenard said in an interview Friday of Srougi's actions. After disciplinary committee members rejected several of Srougi's complaints, he laid complaints against them, too.

Adding to the bar's headache, each time Srougi files a disciplinary complaint, he also requests that the lawyer be provisionally disbarred immediately. That leaves employees and disciplinary committee members running around to comply with the Quebec Professional Code's stipulation that provisional disbarment cases be held within 10 days, Chenard explained.

It's also not fair for the individuals whose reputation Srougi seeks to tarnish, Chenard said.

Srougi has made various allegations of corruption and discrimination against divorced fathers on a Fathers 4 Justice website.

In the complaint he filed against Marcoux in June, Srougi accused the justice minister of allowing his department to lie about the number of women who are abused and of defrauding taxpayers through the millions that are given each year to women's shelters.