THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay lawyer has had his license suspended after the Law Society Tribunal ruled allowing him to continue to practice would pose “significant risk of harm to members of the public or to the public interest in the administration of justice.”
Daniel Matson, who was called to the bar in 2013, was issued an interlocutory suspension order on June 30 after the Law Society of Upper Canada received a judicial complaint from the Superior Court of Justice earlier that month.
The Law Society began investigating allegations the 30-year-old, practicing civil litigation as a partner at Johansen Law Firm, produced false court orders and other documents in at least two separate cases from Feb. 1 to May 29.
The investigating officer determined on May 1 Matson informed a client he had secured a judgement of more than $130,000, producing both a Superior Court of Justice order and bank documents. The client, who was skeptical of the documents, met with another lawyer who discovered they were not part of the court file.
That lawyer alerted the Regional Senior Justice and also found there were no Superior Court judges sitting at the time when the alleged order was produced. The bank also informed the client those documents were not genuine.
In another case, a client questioned the legitimacy of documents received from Matson and in May travelled from Alberta to Thunder Bay to review the court file. Those documents, which included a judgment for $150,000, wire transfers of $244,000 from the law firm’s account and emails believed to be from opposing counsel, were not found in the file. A further May order awarded the client $610,000 in aggravated damages.
Courthouse staff alerted the Regional Senior Justice of the discrepancy and opposing counsel denied sending those emails.
The investigating officer found signatures the transfer documents in the second case “closely resemble” signatures on the order in the other case. As well, in both cases there were instances of “judgement” – an incorrect spelling of judgment.
The client took the financial documents to banks where she was informed they were fraudulent and forgeries.
Under questioning, Matson admitted to creating some documents and draft orders but claimed they were never official documents and were used as examples. He denied misleading his clients.
But the second client denied having knowledge about the status of the documents
“At no time was I aware the documents and emails that I have recieved (sic) from Mr. Matson were fake. At no time did I believe that Mr. Matson was forging signatures or emails or false documents,” she is quoted as communicating to the investigating officer.
The Law Society is investigating at least two other complaints made against Matson.
