Yan David Payne, B.A.(Hons), LL.B. is a Certified Civil Litigation Specialist, as designated by the Law Society of Ontario. He has an impressive track record and is the Senior Managing Lawyer of the Payne Law Team as well as a Qualified Arbitrator (ADRIC/ADRIO).

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 23+ 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, negligence and professional liability claims, defamation actions, wrongful and constructive dismissal matters, human rights, complicated commercial disputes including shareholder and partnership litigation, contentious estate litigation, property/title disputes, and complex appeal proceedings, among others.  Mr. Payne has acted as a Judge (including being asked to judge final rounds) at the Osgoode Cup Mooting Competition (the largest and longest standing undergraduate moot in Canada) and is a qualified arbitrator.

Starting in 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.

Mr. Payne has represented clients before administrative tribunals, the Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and up to the Supreme Court of Canada.

He has also been assigned to mediate and arbitrate a broad range of disputes.  He is recognized as a Qualified Arbitrator by the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR Institute of Ontario.

Mr. Payne has an outstanding trial and appeal record including numerous widely-reported cases.  He has personally successfully argued hundreds of motions, trials, and appeals.

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.  The case has been repeatedly cited by numerous courts on multiple legal issues.

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.

Recent Decisions:

In 2022, Mr. Payne secured a win following attendance before the Ontario Court of Appeal panel chaired by Chief Justice Ceorge Strathy.  The appeal upheld the firm’s earlier trial decision involving beneficial ownership of a property, partition and sale, and claims of resulting trust and constructive trust.  The Ontario Court of Appeal awarded costs of $9,500.00 in favour of our clients.  See: Decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Inniss v. Blackett, 2022 ONCA 166.

In 2022, Mr. Payne succeeded in freezing funds through Preservation Order (brought on motion without notice), and later succeeded in securing a further Order for preservation of Hundreds of Thousands in additional funds.  See Order of the Honourable Justice Myers dated February 4, 2022: He v. Li, Court File No. CV-21-00672289-0000.  A further Order for the release of $266,242.14 to our client, who was not a party to the initial action, was subsequently secured in December 2022.  See: Order (He et al. v. Li et al.) – issued

Also in 2022, Mr. Payne successfully argued that a client’s former firm was not entitled to summary judgment to compel payment of its alleged outstanding fees.  See: Teplitsky, Colson LLP v. BSA Diagnostics Imaging Inc., 2022 ONSC 4130.  The action against the firm client was subsequently dismissed without costs or any award.

In September 2023, Mr. Payne spearheaded a tax trial before the Tax Court of Canada over taxpayer’s disputed deductions.  The Department of Justice ultimately consented to judgment mid-trial leading to $119,552.00 Judgment by the Honourable Justice F.J. Pizzitelli without the need to call balance of witnesses.  The Judgment binds Canada Revenue Agency.  See attached Judgment: Bagga v. His Majesty the King, 2020-2419(IT)G.

In June 2023, Mr. Payne pressed CRA and the Department of Justice to the eve of a formal hearing and was able to secure a consent Order from the Tax Court of Canada reducing the taxpayer’s assessed employment income from $43,772 to zero for the 2014 tax year; from $48,149 to zero for the 2015 tax year; from $52,964 to zero for the 2016 tax year; further reducing the capital gains tax on disposition of a property from $50,000 to zero, eliminating all penalties and interest.  See: Judgment – Signed Jun 7.23 and associated Consent to Judgment.

Also in  June 2023, Mr. Payne secured a Certificate of Pending Litigation on behalf of a firm client to be filed against title of a commercial property preserving it for the duration of the litigation.  See Court Order granting our Motion: Issued CPL Order – June 2.23 (VM).

In 2024, Mr. Payne secured a Certificate of Pending Litigation (CPL) before service of Statement of Claim, without notice, preserving client’s rights against a property in Hamilton for duration of the litigation, all stemming from a debt claim for $250,000.00.  See Order of the Honourable Justice MacNeil: Order – CV-24-84281

In June 2024, Mr. Payne secured and perfected a Construction Lien over a residential property leading to full resolution of the outstanding account plus costs.  See Construction Lien filed with land registrar: WE1727859.

In 2024, Yan David Payne and Mahrukh Bhali secured Judgment of $181,653.31 in general damages plus costs in a breach of contract case leading to Garnishment of full Judgment plus interest and costs.  See Judgment of the Honourable Justice J. Cameron: ADONIS PARTNERS INC. v. CANADIAN RAILINGS (2021) LTD. – Order dated June 6 2024 – CV-23-6036.  Enforcement through bank seizures was fully successful.

In 2025, Yan David Payne  secure $40,000.00 cost award against sibling in bitter Power of Attorney and Estates dispute leading to Orders for passing of accounts.  Court agreed with Mr. Payne that the conduct of the responding sibling unduly lengthened the proceedings and that the cost award was fair, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances.  See Justice Emery’s April 29, 2025 Cost Endorsement: F-costs-endorsement-emery-j-pace-et-al-v-pace (1)

In December 2025,Yan David Payne secured a fresh Notice of Assessment from Appeals Officer eliminating over $300,000.00 in penalites ($205,171.52), arrears interest ($78,951.87), and refund interest ($20,527.6) through CRA Objections process.  See fresh Notice of Reassessment reflecting over $300,000.00 in adjustments in favour of taxpayer: December 12, 2025 Notice of Reassessment PC v. HMK

In 2026, Mr. Payne secured formal Judgment against Developers Valour Projects Inc., Richard Hall, and Carmen Campagnaro for $110,291.10 plus costs subject to whopping 25% interest.  See: January 28, 2026 Judgment Against Valour Projects Inc., Richard Hall, and Carmen Campagnaro

In 2026, Mr. Payne secured a Superior Court of Justice Judgment on behalf of a Commercial Landlord for $173,316.20 plus interest.  The Honourable Justice Mathen accepts firm’s submissions seeking punitive damages, awarding $20,000.00 in Punitive Damages. See: Belo Investments Inc. v. Khan et al – ORDER -CV-22-00679821-0000 – Mathen J

In June 2026, Trial lawyer Yan David Payne succeeds in 3-day trial against two-lawyer defence team in a real estate dispute involving a $150,000.00 holdback on a $4,000,000.00 house sale.  Mr. Payne proved misrepresenations, breaches of warranties, and latent defects securing full damages, costs, and interest.  K.Z. v. J.A., Court File No. SC-22-47 [link coming soon]

In August 2026, Mr. Payne successfully attack Receiver’s claims against client, reducing claimed repayment of transfers by over 50% through multi-day hearing in complex and messy insolvency proceedings on Toronto’s Commercial List.  The Honourable Justice Myers reduces impugned transfers by $171,529.20 in favour of firm client while other targets are held to full liability.  See decision of the Honourable Justice Myers: August 10, 2026 Decision of Justice Myers

Certified Civil Litigation Specialist

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Nicholas Lou Mester, B.A., J.D., is an experienced senior civil and commercial litigator having 20 years of litigation practice before both US and Canadian Courts.  He has spent the past 16 years practicing exclusively in Ontario including as a Partner in a respected medium-sized firm.

Nicholas has extensive motion, application, tribunal, Jury and non-Jury trial, and appeals experience including numerous widely-reported cases.  He has handled a broad range of disputes including commercial, construction, condominium, real estate, wills/estates, insurance, premise liability, and injury cases.

In 2020, Nicholas was invited to be Speaker at the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Conference on the topic of “Winning the Threshold Defensible Trial”.

In addition to successfully acting as lead counsel in jury and non-jury cases, he secured other rare and unusual relief.  In Soutaraajan v. Troisi, 2021 ONSC 3495, he was successful in his motion to strike a Jury Notice prior to trial.  Despite the important substantive right to a jury, the Court cited the unique circumstances of the case in exercising its discretion to strike the Jury Notice.  In this case, court backlog due to the pandemic would have led to substantial delay in getting the case to trial and the Court agreed that this would be prejudicial to the Plaintiff.  The motion was crucial in avoiding further delay in resolution of that claim.

Nicholas has successfully handled a broad range of highly contested motions including summary judgment motions.  In Feuer v. Byling Inc., 2019 ONSC 2598, he brought a summary judgment motion on behalf of a Defendant to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim in its entirety.  In granting summary judgment in favour of the Defendant, the Honourable Justice O’Brien commented that “I am mindful that this is a very unfortunate conclusion for the Plaintiff in this case.  Shortly after the incident, the tenant sold all of its assets and left town.  Without a claim against the Defendant, the Plaintiff will have no further opportunity to seek compensation for his injuries.  Still, the tenant’s poor conduct does not visit liability on the Defendant.”  In Juneja v. Samra, 2016 ONSC 5502, Nicholas brought a summary judgment motion on behalf of clients defending a Third Party Claim.  He was able to secure summary judgment dismissing the Third Party Claim with costs in favour of the clients.

Nicholas has been successful in having trial success upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal.  In Jugmohan v. Royle, 2016 ONCA 827, a unanimous panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed with his submissions that the zero damages awarded at trial should stand.  The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the Plaintiff’s appeal and awarded costs of the appeal to the client.

In Chretien v. Ryder Truck Rental Canada Limited, 2015 ONSC 5347, the Superior Court of Justice granted Nicholas’ motion in a complex insurance dispute involving numerous insurers including issues of policy priorities.  The Honourable Justice Dow granted costs in favour of the client.

In Saleh v. Nebel, 2015 ONSC 747, Nicholas acted for the Defendant (on behalf of his insurer) in an 8-day jury trial.  He brought a threshold motion to dismiss the action in its entirety and was successful.  the Court ordered the plaintiff’s claim in its entirety.

Nicholas successfully represented a Third Party in a jury trial and secured costs for that trial.  In Lichtenstein v. Bathurst Towers Inc., 2011 ONSC 6754, the Honourable Justice Roberts awarded costs of $38,000.00 payable to the client.

Jelani K. Asante, B.A., J.D., is an experienced litigator having practiced before both US and Canadian Courts.  Prior to joining the Payne Law team, Jelani was the head of a the civil litigation department at a busy boutique firm located here in the Greater Toronto Area.  He has extensive motion, application, appellate-level hearing, tribunal hearing, and trial experience, including widely-reported tribunal, Superior Court of Justice, and Divisional Court (appeal) cases.

He has a broad litigation practice, which includes civil and commercial disputes including contract, collection, shareholder, partnership, real estate and mortgage litigation. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 2014, New York bar in 2015, and Ontario bar in 2020.

Jelani has secured rare relief including compelling the sale of a specific property by Order for Specific Performance (rather than mere damages) plus costs.  See the decision of the Honourable Justice R.E. Charney of the Superior Court of Justice: Thillairajan v. Sivasubramaniam, 2021 ONSC 7610.

Jelani was successful in defending an application by multiple parties seeking to freeze accounts and assets and seeking to appoint a monitor over the affairs of the Canada Shri Muththumaari Amman Temple, naming the temple and multiple current and former directors and officers.  The Honourable Justice Agarwal sided with Jelani and the respondents in this important decision involving serious allegations of breach of trust, mismanagement, and theft.  Jelani secured dismissal of the application in full.  See the November 16, 2022 decision of the Honourable Justice Agarwal: Athesivan v. Canada Shri Muththumaari Amman Temple, 2022 ONSC 6638.

In 2025, Jelani challenged a Plaintiff’s attempt to seek leave from a 3-member Divisional Court panel to appeal the Superior Court of Justice decision of the Honourable Justice Parghi.  Jelani was successful in having the Divisional Court panel dismiss the Plaintiff’s motion.  See the decision of the Honourable Justices Sachs, Matheson, and O’Brien: Starkman v. Baichoo, 2025 ONSC 490.

In July 2026, Jelani secured Judgment for default under a registered mortgage.  The Honourable Justice Mathen awarded $678,863.71 in damages plus costs and pre and post-judgment interest as well as an Order for vacant possession.  Lee v. Hong, 2026 ONSC 4272 [link coming soon]

Pratik Batta LLB(Hons)., LLM., is an international lawyer with over 15 years of diverse legal experience. He is dual-licensed to practice in India and Ontario, Canada.

Pratik began his litigation career in 2010 and has since handled complex cases in real estate, corporate law, tax law, and through arbitration.

Having been Lead Legal-North for the real estate wing of the world renowned Aditya Birla Group and having handled matters valued in the $2 Billion range, Pratik is no stranger to high-stakes commercial cases.

Pratik’s current practice includes domestic and international litigation.

At Payne Law, Pratik Batta co-chaired a highly contested Superior Court of Justice estates hearing including submissions on costs. Pratik’s efforts led to a $40,000.00 cost award against sibling in this bitter Power of Attorney and Estates dispute leading to Orders for passing of accounts.  Court agreed with submission that the conduct of the responding sibling unduly lengthened the proceedings and that this cost award is fair, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances.  See Justice Emery’s April 29, 2025 Cost Endorsement: F-costs-endorsement-emery-j-pace-et-al-v-pace (1)

Pratik was successful in a motion before the Ontario Court of Appeal securing the Stay of a commercial landlord’s Judgment for vacant possession of a commercial condo unit in a contentious $550,000.00 fee dispute.  Stay is in place pending appeal of the summary judgment motion Judgment.  See attached Order of Ontario Court of Appeal granting stay: OOM.M55940.COA-25-CV-0286.8-MAY-2025

in 2026, Pratik successfully argued a motion to strike all irrelevant, unnecessarily negative, and scandalous allegations in a Statement of Claim.  The Honourable Justice Latimer agreed with Pratik’s submissions concluding that “this conduct is scandalous because it cannot influence the outcome.. would unnecessarily expand the litigation.. risk inflaming proceedings and improperly expanding the scope of discovery.”  The Court awarded “increased costs” of $6,500.00 due to conduct of the Plaintiff.  This serves as a warning to parties that drafting pleadings is not an opportunity to cast irrelevant aspersions.  See: Parsons v. Rodriguez, Court File No. CV-25-00015603-0000

In 2026 Pratik secured a Superior Court of Justice Judgment on behalf of a Commercial Landlord for $173,316.20 plus interest.  The Honourable Justice Mathen accepted submissions seeking punitive damages, awarding $20,000.00 in Punitive Damages. See: Belo Investments Inc. v. Khan et al – ORDER -CV-22-00679821-0000 – Mathen J

In August 2026, Pratik successfully attacked Receiver’s claims against client, reducing claimed repayment of transfers by over 50% through multi-day hearing in complex and messy insolvency proceedings on Toronto’s Commercial List.  The Honourable Justice Myers reduces impugned transfers by $171,529.20 in favour of firm client while other targets are held to full liability.  See decision of the Honourable Justice Myers: August 10, 2026 Decision of Justice Myers

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.