Suspended Vancouver lawyer ordered to pay neighbour $30K for time spent dealing with pseudo-legal lawsuit

A suspended Vancouver lawyer who lost a"frivolous" lawsuit against her neighbour over a glass deck divider has been ordered to pay the woman nearly $30,000 in costs, likely ending a case that legal experts had described as highly unusual.

Naomi Arbabihad claimedtrespass against her neighbour, Colleen McLelland. McLelland declined an interview, but her lawyer spoke to CBC News on Tuesday.

"She's feeling both pleased and somewhat vindicated by the fact that she obtained a reasonable amount of compensation for being dragged through the proceedings she was dragged through," said Greg Palm,managing partner at Hamilton Duncan Law Corporation.

One expert on pseudo-legal arguments described the case as "magical gibberish," while another said it was "extraordinarily rare" to see such a claim from a practising lawyer.The judge who dismissed the case said it borethe hallmarks of claims made by OPCA [Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments] litigants" legal theories favoured by fringe groups like Sovereign Citizens and Freemen on the Land.

Settlement offer for $14k

In her original claim filed in October,Arbabi accused McLellandof trespassingupon her by obstructing her mountain view when the strata of their Fairview condo building installed a 1.7-metre-high opaque glass privacy divider on McLelland's rooftop deck.

A judge dismissed the case in January and ordered Arbabi to pay special costs money "generally awarded as a punishment for conduct that the court determines to be reprehensible," Palm said. The only issue left to sort out was the amount Arbabi needed to pay.

According to the ruling Monday, McLellandoffered Arbabia deal: They could settle costs for justover $14,200 if Arbabipaid by March 8.

Arbabi agreed to the dollar amount, but said she would pay in instalments over the next 40 years.

McLelland declined to wait until 2064,sothe issue went back to court.

In her decision, special registrar Meg Gaily saidArbabineeded to pay McLellanda little more than $29,500 to cover the time and money she had spent representing herself, addingMcLellandhad to takemore timeresearching and learning civil procedure "to deal with the OPCA litigation than she otherwise would have."

Gaily said the special costs will also go toward reimbursing Palm and thelegal team, who helped McLelland on a pro bono basis.

"Ms. Arbabi chose to litigate in a manner that was... repugnant to the oath that she and I both swore when we became lawyers to uphold the rule of law and to refrain from bringing proceedings on frivolous pretenses," said Palm, speaking to why he took the case on for free.

"At the end of the day, this award reflects the fact that there are consequences for doing that."

Arbabihas theright to apply to the court for a review of a registrar's decision for 14 days.CBC News contacted Arbabi for comment through hercustodian, which isa practising lawyer appointed to manage or to wind up a legal practice. The custodian referred the inquiry to the Law Society of B.C., which declined to reach out to Arbabi, citing confidentiality.

In dismissing Arbabi's originalclaim earlier this year, B.C. Supreme Court Associate Judge Susanna Hughes said the "frivolous and vexatious" lawsuit was anattempt fromArbabi to use the court "for the purposes of her fictional court."

The judgesaid the lawsuitdidn't have a reasonable legal basis and showed"many of the hallmarks" of claims made by OPCA litigants.

The ruling on costs saidArbabi hastakenresponsibility for the claim, but "denied that she is an OPCA litigant."

Arbabi resigned law licence in January

In her original claim,Arbabi identifiedherself in her original claim as "i, a woman" and saidthe case would be tried in the "naomi arbabi court."

She wrote that "this is a claim based on law of the land, and not a complaint based on legal codes acts or statutes" and asks for compensation equal to $1,000 a day for every day the glass divider had been in place which would've addedup to more than $130,000 by the time the claim was thrown out.

When Arbabi appeared in court in November to fight McLelland's application to dismiss her claim, she said she was appearing as "a living, breathing, alive woman," not a lawyer, and denied any association with organized pseudo-legal groups.

Hughes ordered Arbabi to payspecial costsfor violating the oath taken by all lawyers called to the bar in B.C., which includes a promise not to"promote suits upon frivolous pretences."

At the time she filed her claim last fall, Arbabi was a lawyer in good standing with the Law Society of B.C. She resigned her licence to practise lawin the province thisJanuary, several weeks after it had been suspended over the case against McLelland.

Arbabi agreed to meet with a reporter in November to discuss her lawsuit, but declined to answer any questions when she arrived. Instead, she read out a notice warning of legal consequences if a story werepublished without her consent.

During a later interview on a podcast, Arbabidescribed her legal approach as "law for mankind." Arbabi said she started taking courses through a website called the Sovereign's Way aftergoing through what she called an awakeningduring the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said she had also come to understand the legal system as being like a board game she has chosen not to play.