JUDGE LAMBASTES LEGAL AID ONTARIO

    Toronto Star:  In a landmark decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward J. Koke has ruled that Legal Aid’s ongoing support of Kathleen Anne Worrod was an “abuse of process” that undermined the public interest and wasted precious judicial resources meant for low-income Ontarians.
  Worrod’s case forced the family of Muskoka landscaper Kim Kevin Hunt, 57, to needlessly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of its own money on legal bills, the judge said, ruling that Worrod and Legal Aid are now on the hook.
   As well, Koke said, Legal Aid funding paid for an expert report in 2015 that found Hunt was intellectually incapable of making independent decisions. That finding, the judge said, should have triggered Legal Aid to stop supporting the case. Worrod’s defence at the trial was built on the premise that Hunt was capable of consenting to marriage.
   Koke said Legal Aid failed to “properly and conscientiously” monitor the “meritless” case against Hunt.