Wrongfully convicted man ‘satisfied’ after settling suit against lawyers

A man who was wrongfully convicted of murder has settled a lawsuit against lawyers he claimed bungled a compensation case against justice officials and others.

“I’m not supposed to say anything because I signed papers of non-disclosure,” Frank Ostrowski, who is now in his mid-70s, said.

“But, it’s been settled, and it’s finished now. I’m satisfied, and I can go on with my life.”

He filed a $16-million lawsuit against multiple justice officials and a defence lawyer in 2020 over his wrongful 1987 conviction. That suit was turfed in 2022 when a Court of King’s Bench judge ruled Ostrowski had taken too long to pursue legal action against nearly all of the people he sued.

Ostrowski, with new lawyers working on his behalf, filed another lawsuit in late 2023 against the legal counsel who represented him in the 2020 civil case.

The 2023 lawsuit claimed the 2020 lawyers — law firms PKF Lawyers and Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP, as well as lawyers Thomas Frohlinger, Harvey Strosberg and David Robins — breached their contracts and were negligent when they represented Ostrowski in his earlier civil claim.

Ostrowski told the Free Press Friday he could not discuss the terms of the settlement, which was reached early last month.

Lawyer Dean Giles, who represented several of the defendants, confirmed in a July 3 letter filed in court that the 2023 lawsuit had been settled.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Alain Huberdeau dismissed Ostrowski’s claim and various crossclaims filed in the lawsuit on July 4.

Ostrowski previously said he was seeking $16 million in the 2023 suit.

He was convicted of first-degree murder after being accused of orchestrating the cocaine-trafficking-related shooting death of 22-year-old Robert Nieman in 1986.

Ostrowski has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years and served 23 behind bars before he was granted bail in 2009 pending a federal review of his case.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal stayed Ostrowski’s murder conviction in 2018, finding an undisclosed prosecution deal with police informant Matthew Lovelace in exchange for his testimony had resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

Notes and a report from a Winnipeg police officer who had a phone conversation with the informant a few hours before the slaying were also not disclosed to Ostrowski’s defence. Lovelace reportedly identified another man, not Nieman, as the target of a shooting during that conversation.

In 1986, one of the lawyers Ostrowski sued in 2020 was representing Lovelace on drug-trafficking charges when he made a deal with federal prosecutors to stay the charges if Lovelace testified against Ostrowski.

The senior prosecutor in the case was George Dangerfield, the same prosecutor tied to the wrongful convictions of Kyle Unger, James Driskell and Thomas Sophonow. Dangerfield died in September 2023.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca