Law Society of Alberta: Megan McMahon Served With Formal Complaint Allegations Against Her

The Law Society of Alberta complaint against lawyer Megan McMahon has been escalated to the formal complaints stage.

In a letter dated October 26, 2015, the Law Society of Alberta served Ms. McMahon with the formal allegations against her. The letter addressed to Ms. McMahon states the following allegations of her misconduct:

1. That you have harassed and defamed Ms. Carbone in the course of the Court proceedings;

2. That you were dishonest and misrepresented information to the Courts;

3. That you represented your client in circumstances prohibited by the Law Society'sCode of Conduct.

4. That you fraudulently prepared a Bill of Costs in the amount of $150,000 dated June 19, 2014 and refused to provide requested supporting documentation and receipts;

5.That you, in addition to a host of egregious sharp practices and lies to the Court:

(a) refused to agree to reasonable requests concerning trial dates, adjournments, and waiver of procedural formalities and similar matters; 

(b) engaged in sharp practice and trial by ambush, including refusing to agree to a trial date that met both parties' trial readiness;

(c) late-served Dr. Whidden's expert's report just three months prior to the trial which was contrary to the Rules of Court requiring that any expert report be served prior to scheduling of a trial date and then refused to allow Ms. Carbone to cross-examine the expert on his report prior to trial; 

(d) refused to provide trial exhibits prior to trial; 

(e) refused to name witnesses before trial; 

(f) refused to provide an authored article by the expert prior to trial; and

(g) communicated with and advised on testimony of the expert, Dr. Morris, regarding incisions during his break from the trial examination stand;

6. That you, in advance and anticipation of your fraud, unlawfully obtained a credit bureau report of Ms. Carbone without her knowledge or consent, proof of which appears in her credit bureau report;

7. That you failed to act on your duty of providing relevant legal authorities to Ms. Carbone, a self-represented party and further, that you failed to treat Ms. Carbone with civility, respect and cooperation.

The complainant has requested that an independent third party conduct the complaint against Ms. McMahon given the conflict of interest with her colleague at law firm Gowlings, lawyer James Eamon, being the current Law Society president, but the Law Society will not allow a third party to handle the complaint.

As reported throughout this blog, Ms. McMahon also faces harassment, defamation and fraud proceedings in the related lawsuit against her at the Court of Queen's Bench, which Ms. McMahon has repeatedly delayed for nearly two years. Those proceedings were commenced against Ms. McMahon, an opposing defence lawyer in the underlying medical malpractice matter, for her ongoing harassment and abuse of the complainant, a plaintiff who had to undergo multiple corrective surgeries.