More than 200 driving offence appeals dismissed in apparent ‘scheme’ to exploit Ontario’s demerit point system, judge says

The Ontario Courthouse in Toronto is photographed on Monday, May 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

An Ontario court has dismissed nearly 250 appeals of driving offence convictions after a judge determined they were part of a paralegal’s “scheme” to undermine the province’s demerit point system in an apparent effort to prevent his clients’ driving records from being tarnished and abuse the appeals system.

Justice Louis P. Strezos concluded in a pair of rulings this year, released in April and in August, that Adelin-Bogdan Mocanu, a paralegal out of Newmarket, Ont., filed 242 “meritless” appeals over the last two years for his clients’ charges under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA).

All of the appeals were filed after guilty pleas that Mocanu or his firm, Ticket Justice, entered on behalf of the defendants, according to the rulings.

“What is astounding about the notices of appeal is that most of them stated that the defendant was not guilty, wanted a trial or vaguely stated ‘as the transcripts may reveal,’” Strezos wrote. “There was never any intention to proceed with the appeals. Not one of them.”

Mocanu conceded to this in some sense during the hearing, the filings reveal, as the paralegal said generally it would be “fair” to say there was no intention to proceed with the appeals.

In January, prosecutors for the City of Toronto noticed an “unusual” pattern in the near-250 HTA appeals, where they would see defendants “plead guilty, appeal, and then do nothing.” Some of the offences were committed five years ago, the rulings note.

The city prosecutors brought forward a motion for directions, prompting Strezos’s order to hear the appeals altogether. On June 11, Strezos dismissed the appeals.

The City of Toronto told CTV News Toronto it could not comment, as “this matter” is before the courts.

“The entering of guilty pleas and subsequent filing of appeals was an abuse of the appeal process. The scheme also resulted in countless hours by court staff processing appeals that were meritless,” Strezos wrote, noting nearly four days in court were spent reviewing the hundreds of appeals. “This never should have happened.”

Strezos found that this was done to exploit and undermine the province’s demerit point system, preventing Mocanu’s clients from being convicted and having demerit points marked on their driving records, as the registrar has to wait until the “conviction is sustained on appeal.”

Demerit points are scrubbed from a person’s driving record two years after they commit an offence, not from the date of their conviction—a crucial distinction underscored in the ruling. Strezos determined Mocanu was taking advantage of this by filing “sham appeals,” as they were submitted in an effort to create a two-year delay.

This worked for more than half of the appeals Mocanu filed, a total of 136 cases where demerit points will never be accrued, amounting to what Strezos calls an abuse of the appeal process.

“Public safety was put at risk by this practice,” the rulings read, as when an HTA conviction is not logged onto a person’s driving record, bail or sentencing decisions that follow become less informed, especially in impaired driving cases.

Justice Strezos’s rulings didn’t determine whether Mocanu’s “scheme” was criminal. In a separate decision released on June 9, which also investigated the paralegal’s “frivolous” appeals in the Peel Region, the justice said when appeals are submitted “without a reasonable basis,” it could be viewed as “an attempt to obstruct the course of justice.”

“More significantly, such deliberate and intentional conduct to impede the fair and impartial administration of the legal process could also be an act that leads to the criminal offence … being laid,” Justice Richard Quon wrote. Also in this case, Quon did not determine if Mocanu’s actions were criminal.

In a notice issued on Monday, the Law Society Tribunal ordered an immediate suspension of Mocanu’s licence on an interlocutory basis and that he adhere to their guidelines barring paralegals from providing legal services during this time.

A spokesperson for the tribunal notes this is not a suspension following a conduct application, meaning the panel has not ruled on whether misconduct was committed on Mocanu’s part. Instead, the panel ruled on whether “there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a significant risk of harm to members of the public, or to the public interest in the administration of justice, if the order is not made.”

Typically, the tribunal says it launches a conduct application following this type of suspension, after which the panel would determine if misconduct did indeed happen.

Currently, the tribunal is investigating more than a dozen allegations into Mocanu’s professional conduct, including the “pattern of deliberate deception involving the courts, the Crown and clients.”

A factum obtained by CTV News Toronto reveals the tribunal has also received complaints about Mocanu’s conduct in a few regulatory cases from 2024, with some complaints alleging Mocanu might have misappropriated funds received from clients for future legal services.

Tribunal records reveal Mocanu has had his licence suspended two other times in the last two years for professional misconduct, seemingly unrelated to the HTA appeal scheme. The paralegal first received his licence in 2008.

“We are working to address this and will be following the necessary processes to do so,” Dakota Brasier, a spokesperson for Ontario’s transportation minister, said in a statement when asked about the apparent loophole, pointing to the legislative processes that must be followed to address it.

CTV News Toronto contacted Mocanu for comment but did not immediately hear a response in time for publication.