The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) hires one of our Canadian clients as Defense Counsel and later refuses to pay all her fees. Having exhausted available remedies in the United Nations (UN) system, she files an action on account in the Superior Court of Quebec in Montreal, in which she asks for a joint and several condemnation against the ICTR and the UN.

The Court then asks for an expert opinion on the liability of the UN for the acts and omissions of the ICTR, which CMKZ is asked to produce. The Judge quotes this expert opinion with approval twice in her judgment, in which she concludes that the UN is jointly and severally liable and condemns it with the ICTR to pay our client an amount exceeding $180,000. At that point the issue of enforcing the judgment arises, since in Canada the UN benefits from immunity in this respect.

CMKZ is therefore appointed to represent the client in discussions with the Legal Adviser of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) in Ottawa. These discussions result in an intervention by the Canadian government, which leads to an out-of-court settlement that allows our client to receive payment.

As an expert in international law and the law of international organizations, Paul Fauteux prepared the expert opinion requested by the Court and made the representations to DFATD.