Assessment by client properly on requisition to Registrar within 30 days of final account

Kulidjian & Associates v. Gareene Homes Inc., 2011 ONCA 224 holds that an assessment sought by a client within thirty days is on requisition to the Registrar and thereon by application.

This has long been the practice but Kulidjian is the first decision squarely on point. The Court writes:

[1] In Price v. Sonsini (2002), 60 O.R. (3d) 257 at para. 19, Justice Sharpe discussed the approach to be taken when clients seek to assess their lawyers' bills. He said:

Public confidence in the administration of justice requires the court to intervene where necessary to protect the client's right to a fair procedure for the assessment of a solicitor's bill. As a general matter, if a client objects to a solicitor's account, the solicitor should facilitate the assessment process, rather than frustrating the process.

[2] We take the words of Sharpe J.A. to sound the purpose behind the assessment provisions in the Solicitors Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.15 ("the Act").

[3] In Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. v. Shapiro, Cohen, Andres, Finlayson (1998), 38 O.R. (3d) 57 (Ont. C.A.), Labrosse J.A. of this court described the scope of s. 3 of the Act in these words:
A client may apply for the assessment of delivered accounts in the following circumstances:

(i) upon requisition from the registrar, within thirty days of delivery (provided that there are no special circumstances and the retainer is not disputed). There is no distinction between paid and unpaid accounts (s. 3(b)). [Emphasis added.]

[4] On the analysis in Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co., supra, the respondent was entitled to proceed in the manner that it did.
...

[6] We are satisfied that the interpretation of s. 3 in Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. is the correct interpretation. It is consistent with the, admittedly not altogether clear, wording of the statute. More important, it is consistent with the purpose behind the assessment process as described at the outset of these reasons.

[7] In our view, ss. 3 and 11 can live together and both have application to paid accounts. Thirty days is the divide between the two provisions for the purposes of determining whether the assessment can be directed by the Registrar.