Yan David Payne, B.A.(Hons), LL.B. is a Certified Civil Litigation Specialist, as designated by the Law Society of Ontario. He is the Senior Managing Lawyer of the Payne Law Team.

Mr. Payne articled at a highly-respected civil litigation boutique in Toronto.  He later headed the litigation division of a commercial and tax litigation firm in Toronto, taking on full responsibility for important cases and successfully taking numerous cases to trial and to appeal over the 18 years that followed.  Ultimately, Mr. Payne’s drive, work ethic and successes led colleagues and clients alike to follow him to his private practice, which was founded in 2005/2006.

He has acted as principal and mentor to articling students and to new lawyers over the years.  Mr. Payne has been retained to lead a variety of litigation cases.  He has represented clients in tax matters, defamation actions, wrongful and constructive dismissal matters, human rights, commercial disputes, contentious estate litigation, and complex appeal proceedings, among others.

Recently, in May 2020, Mr. Payne was asked to be an expert speaker by the Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association on tax litigation and employment law developments in the Covid-19 era.

Mr. Payne has been appointed by the Superior Court of Ontario as Independent Supervising Counsel and has advised and represented a broad range of clients from individual employees to established corporations, from small and medium-sized businesses to domestic, foreign, national and international organizations, from the chief of police, top ranked athletes, university professors, the Mayor of a major Canadian City, to court officials, professional regulatory and insurance bodies, as well as other professionals including lawyers, accountants, and doctors.

He has been assigned to mediate and arbitrate a broad range of disputes.  Mr. Payne has an outstanding trial and appeal record including numerous widely-reported cases.  For example, see the precedent-setting unanimous Ontario Court of Appeal decision of Rausch v. Pickering (City) 2013 ONCA 740 which recognized, for the first time, a duty of care upon a municipality and its by-law officers in the enforcement of by-laws.

In Loyst v. Chatten’s Better Hearing Service 2012 ONSC 1653, Mr. Payne secured an impressive wrongful dismissal award for lost wages equal to a 29-month notice period plus a 15% ownership interest in the company for a total award of $256,902.93 (the decision was unanimously upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal, see Loyst v. Chatten’s Better Hearing Service, 2013 ONCA 781).

In Osinski v. Her Majesty the Queen 2013 TCC 71, Mr. Payne defeated the Canada Revenue Agency and the Department of Justice, overturning $3,834,543.62+ in taxes, penalties, and interest in favour of taxpayer.  In the recent 2017 case Her Majesty the Queen v. M. S., 1211 998 16 361300, Mr. Payne was able to secure an Order for the withdrawal of 20 tax evasion charges against an accountant and for the return of all seized property.

Mr. Payne is always eager to play David to Bay Street’s Goliath.  The Ontario Court of Appeal recently accepted Mr. Payne’s arguments dismissing Fasken’s attempt to exercise a $360,000.00 solicitor’s lien against its former individual client – see Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Weenen v. Biadi , 2018 ONCA 288 and related article about Mr. Payne’s handling of the case: Court of Appeal dismisses Fasken’s motion for charging order against client – The Lawyer’s Daily – PDF.  Please visit our Reported Cases section to review numerous other court victories secured by senior member of the bar, Yan David Payne.

Certified Civil Litigation Specialist

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Hashim Syed, B.Comm, J.D., is a Commercial and Tax Litigator with 10 years of litigation experience, the majority of which he has spent as a valued member of the Payne Law Litigation Team.

Mr. Syed graduated law school in 2008 and has since been called to the bar in both Ontario and in the U.S.  He earned a 3-year scholarship, and a certificate of merit for achieving the highest grade in advanced legal research.

Over the past 10 years, he has developed extensive litigation experience before the Ontario Court of Appeal, Divisional Court, Ontario Superior Court, Ontario Court of Justice, Tax Court of Canada, as well as various tribunals.  He has argued cases in Courts throughout the Province in addition to US State Courts.

He has been retained to handle a broad range of commercial, tax, and civil litigation matters including conflict of laws, international and domestic contract disputes, shareholder disputes, employment disputes, and estate litigation, involving amounts ranging upwards of $20,000,000.00 in value.  In 2020, Mr. Syed has been lead counsel on many trials including weeks-long and months-long trials.

In 2020, Mr. Syed argued one of the first remote Divisional Court appeal hearings in the Province’s history.  He was successful in upholding our clients’ right to sell a jointly-owned property, despite bitter opposition from the co-owner.  The Divisional Court upheld the sale and ordered costs in favour of our clients.  This comes shortly after we obtained multiple cost awards in early motions for a stay and for having initiated the appeal in the wrong court.  See 2020 Divisional Court decision: Krizan v. Skurdelis, 2020 ONSC 4386.  See also earlier motion decision denying the appellant a stay in the sale order and awarding costs in favour of firm client: Krizan v. Skurdelis, 2020 ONSC 451 and formal Order:  Krizan v. Skurdelis – Divisional Court File No. 712-19.

Mr. Syed obtained a rare leave from Bankruptcy Court to continue an action against a defendant who had filed for bankruptcy (see Order from bankruptcy court in London - June 6.18) permitting the client to pursue his claim for fraud in Superior Court.  He subsequently secured Judgment of over $427,000.00 including punitive damages and costs following a Superior Court of Justice hearing on the matter (See formal Judgment: Jovkovic v. Dasliva Motorsports Ltd. - Superior Court File No. CV-15-523869).  Mr. Syed thrives in a trial setting.  Recently, he secured a Superior Court Judgment for over $126,000.00 following at a contentious trial involving an oral contract (see K.T. v. P.B., 2018 ONSC 96).  In 2018, Mr. Syed successfully defended against a summary judgment motion attempt (see reported decision: Lourenco v. Turner, 2018 ONSC 3252).  He has handled numerous cases involving aborted real estate transactions (see, for example, Judgment in C.S. v. R.N. - Judgment - ISSUED on Oct 15.18). He has handled unusual wrongful dismissal trials (including securing a $105,000.00 in damages and costs for an employee, despite employer having cause for termination – see Grossi v. Premier Salons Ltd., 2014 ONSC 5028), tax appeals and hearings (for example, Tax Court Judgement reversing $546,000.00 tax assessment in HST collection dispute – see formal  Judgement – February 2016, and Tax Court of Canada Judgement in Lesner v. Her Majesty the Queen: Income Tax Judgment Dated August 5, 2014 (Heard July 18, 2014)), and commercial disputes at various levels of court including Superior Court and appellate court.  See August 24, 2016 Superior Court decision in Ramos v. Can-Med Pharma Inc., 2016 ONSC 5363 wherein Mr. Syed obtained an Order dismissing an Application brought by out-of-country Applicant for failure to post security for costs.

See also Divisional Court judgement quashing an unfounded appeal before it can be heard, thus saving client time and cost and obtaining full indemnity cost award of $25,337.10 –  Judgement of Justice Kiteley entered Jun 2014.  In 2017, Mr. Syed obtained a rare and extraordinary Order for costs as against a client’s former lawyer – see Exceptional Order for Costs to Be Paid By Previous Lawyer – Sep.29.17.

He is familiar with customs in Arabic and Japanese, conversational French, and a basic understanding of Hindi and Urdu.

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Karen J. Sanchez, B.A., J.D., is an experienced litigator and a strong advocate in matters ranging from employment and human rights to estates and tax disputes.  She has been a civil litigator for 8 years, the majority of which time she spent as a valuable member of the Payne Law Litigation Team.

Ms. Sanchez articled in 2011 and began practicing law at a well-established and well-respected boutique firm and she became a contributing member of that practice, eventually handling a broad range of litigation cases.

Ms. Sanchez has the ability to attract media spotlight as was the case when she represented 10 applicants at the Human Rights Tribunal (watch Ms. Sanchez and applicants interviewed by CBC and Global News and read more about the front-page news in the Toronto Star and CBC Online) and read Decision of Human Rights Tribunal Adjudicator D. Sanderson obtained by Ms. Sanchez in favour of diverse group of applicants before the Human Rights Tribunal as well as updated Toronto Star article reporting on the win.

Ms. Sanchez has handled a broad range of court and appellate cases including court victories at Superior Court and at the highest appellate court in the Province.  In 2020, she was successful at trial in having our client’s interest in a property recognized by the Superior Court of Justice, and in obtaining an Order compelling the sale of the property.  All of this despite the fact that our client had been out of the property for over 10 years: Inniss v. Blackett_Reasons for Decision_July 6 2020.  In 2019, she won a multi-day trial against the Department of Justice and CRA vacating years of reassessments and reversing penalties and interest (see: Douglas Charles Johnson v. Her Majesty the Queen (2019)).  She also recently secured a $700,000.00 Superior Court Judgment in a real estate and business dispute gone awry (see: Sywak v. Collver - Superior Court File No. 18-67074).  Also in 2019, Ms. Sanchez ably argued a limitation period defence to win motion and costs against the Plaintiff (see: Vahidi v. Pasandideh - Superior Court File No. 18-CV-599822).

Ms. Sanchez has secured rare and extraordinary remedies for firm clients including obtaining a Mareva injunction freezing assets of defendants before they were served with a claim or even notified, and then having the order expanded and extended on notice (see June 5, 2018 Order of the Honourable Justice McEwen).  Ms. Sanchez recently obtained rare leave to continue an action against a defendant who filed for bankruptcy, permitting firm client to pursue claim without restriction (see Jovkovic v. Silverio Manuel DaSilva a.k.a. Manny DaSilva, Court File No. 35-2314079).  Her success on this motion also led to the firm securing full Superior Court Judgment against that Defendant in the amount of $427,000.00 including punitive damages and costs.  See also successful motion staying summary judgement and obtaining security for costs: Talisman v. Kyser, 2013 ONSC 6612.

She has appeared at all levels of court in Ontario, before various boards and tribunals (including the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the Toronto Police Services Disciplinary Tribunal, the Landlord and Tenant Board, the Ontario Disability Support Program, the Human Rights Tribunal, and Ontario Works) and she has worked on Supreme Court of Canada appellate litigation.

Ms. Sanchez's Court success extends to Divisional Court and Ontario Court of Appeal cases.  See, for example, General Electric Canada Real Estate Financing Holding Co. v. Liberty Assisted Living Inc., 2013 ONCA 119 where she was successful in overturning a lower court decision.

She was selected to judge the finalists in the Osgoode Cup Competition, the largest and longest-standing undergraduate moot in Canada.

She has also co-chaired industry seminars, including for the Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association.

Ms. Sanchez is focused on delivering results in all manner of disputes including employment, human rights, commercial, estates, and tax disputes through focused negotiations, court motions, trials, and appeals.  Her academic credentials are excellent including being on the Dean’s Honour Roll and graduating Cum Laude prior to being called to the Ontario bar.

Ms. Sanchez is fluent in English and Spanish.

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Janice Ly started working in the legal field in 2009.  She is an accredited law clerk having obtained her diploma from Seneca College's Law Clerk Program. She is fluent in English and also understands Cantonese.

Megan Oxenham, B.A., is the firm’s office manager and senior litigation clerk.  No stranger to conflict resolution, Ms. Oxenham brings her Bay Street firm experience and  her background as Special Assistant to the Premier of Ontario to the Payne Law team. She has been a valued member of the team since 2006.