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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Lawyer motions to end Douglas inquiry

By: Steve Lambert

Posted: 08/21/2012 1:00 AM

ANOTHER round of legal wrangling has erupted that could derail the inquiry into a Manitoba judge whose nude photos appeared on the Internet.

Lori Douglas's lawyer, Sheila Block, filed an application Monday with the Federal Court of Canada to quash the inquiry due to a "reasonable apprehension of bias."

Block alleges George Macintosh, the lawyer who has been asking questions on behalf of the five-member committee overseeing the inquiry, has engaged in "aggressive and argumentative questions, sexist and insulting references, misstatements and distortions of the evidence and attacks on (Douglas's) character and credibility."

Guy Pratte, the independent lawyer leading the inquiry, filed a similar but separate motion Monday.

He did not ask the Federal Court to end the inquiry, but only to prevent Macintosh from asking any more questions and strike his previous questions from the record.

Pratte said the inquiry committee, which includes the chief justices of Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, has overstepped its bounds by becoming involved in a hearing while also presiding over it.

"The procedure adopted by the committee is beyond its jurisdiction, violates the (Canadian Judicial Council) bylaws and policies and... is inconsistent with the principles of fairness by which the committee is legally bound," Pratte wrote.

The inquiry committee is examining whether Douglas should be removed from the bench. Douglas is an associate chief justice of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, heading up the family court division.

The inquiry is examining a controversy that began when Douglas's husband, Jack King, sexually harassed a client.

In 2003, when Douglas and King were family law lawyers at the same firm, King uploaded sexually explicit photos of Douglas on a website dedicated to interracial sex. Some showed her in bondage gear or performing sex acts. He also emailed photos to a client, Alexander Chapman, and asked him to have sex with Douglas.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 21, 2012 A4