The Ontario Law Society Tribunal Hearing Division has found misconduct by a lawyer towards a client
The Law Society alleged that Abba Emmanuel Chima engaged in professional misconduct contrary to Rule 6.3-3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Rules) by:
• in acting for AA, the respondent sexually harassed AA by sending communications to her of a sexual nature, when such conduct might reasonably have been expected to cause AA insecurity, discomfort, offence or humiliation; and
• during meetings with AA, the respondent sexually harassed AA by making unwelcome advances towards her and/or engaging in verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when such conduct might reasonably have been expected to cause AA insecurity, discomfort, offence or humiliation.
The messages were found in a WhatsApp chat which contained the numbers of the Lawyer and AA and the names of the Lawyer, AA and Harry Kopyto.
• Below are descriptions of some (but not all) of the content found in the messages and videos sent by the Lawyer to AA:
a) An image of a little boy and girl, both wearing only their underwear. The little boy is seen peering into a little girl’s underwear. The caption above the little girl states, “Mommy says it’s a future gold mine and I should not show it to any boys.” The caption above the little boy states, “Really, My [sic] dad says it’s where all his money goes.”
b) An image of a woman and a man who have the following conversation:
Woman: “Honey, before we got married, you used to give me gifts and expensive jewelry [sic].”
Man: “Yes… So [sic]?”
Woman: “How come you don’t do it anymore?”
Man: “Have you seen a fisherman give worms to the fish after catching it?”
c) An image which is captioned “Mother of all advertisement [sic].” The image contains an ad for an imaging and photo company which reads “we can shoot your wife & frame your mother-in law [sic]” and also “if you want we can hang them too!”
d) A cartoon image of a courtroom scene with a character stating, “If physical relationship with wife without her consent is termed as rape then Shopping without a husband’s consent should be termed as Robbery [sic]”
e) A sexualized image of larger woman wearing tight clothing with the caption,” Think big Dream big Believe big and the result will be big [sic].”
f) An image that reads “Million Dollar Truth” and “Wife is Cute when she is Mute” as well as “Husband is Honey when he gives Money [sic].”
g) A video featuring a man, who is allegedly a massage therapist for professional models, massaging women in bikinis and speaking about the difficulties of his job. The video caption reads “Everybody Hates Their JOB LMAO [sic].”
h) A video of a comedy skit involving an elevator, painted as a naked woman’s private parts, and men who can enter the elevator after flashing their private parts.
• AA provided the LSO with an email she sent to Mr. Kopyto on November 4, 2019, wherein she specifically noted that the Lawyer had sent her highly inappropriate WhatsApp messages.
Reception
• AA advised the LSO that receiving the messages had upset her and that she had shown them to her mother.
• AA’s mother advised the LSO that she was upset to see the messages and advised AA to respond to the Lawyer with messages of gospel and scriptures.
• AA sent the Lawyer messages containing scripture passages and affirmations in response to his messages.
Meetings
We have found AA credible with respect to the number of meetings she had with Mr. Chima. It is abundantly clear that AA does not have a clear recollection of dates of those meetings. However, it is equally clear that she has a consistent recollection of the details of the harassment she experienced. Her testimony about the incidents of harassment was consistent despite Mr. Bowen’s very able cross-examination. There were further small details with AA’s testimony that added to her credibility, such as her inability to say the word “wet” out loud and recalling Chima using his fingers to describe her husband walking.
The attorney contended that AA was a disgruntled client who had fabricated the allegations
Mr. Chima admits targeting AA with inappropriate, sexualized messages and videos between April and December 2018. The meetings between AA and Chima took place during the same time period. That fact strongly supports finding all the sexualized and harassing conduct to be connected. It supports the credibility of the allegations contained in particular 2.