Calgary Lawyer "David Blott" Disbarred

According to the Canadian Press on June 13, 2014, The Law Society of Alberta disbarred the lawyer accused of misconduct in his handling of settlements awarded to survivors of residential school abuse.

"The panel heard that between 2006 and 2012, Blott’s Calgary law firm handled almost 4,600 residential school claims, many in southern Alberta. Information was taken from each victim who would sign a retainer agreement. If the settlement were $100,000, Blott would receive $15,000 from the federal government and up to an additional $15,000 from the settlement payout.

“The tragic reality … is what started out as a reconciliation effort in the righting of wrongs turned into what can only be described as a factory of gross self-interest, where victims of the residential school system were essentially revictimized and treated less like human beings and more like cattle,” said Harvie.

“They were in fact dehumanized by a process where the ultimate goal appears to be making as much money as possible with the least amount of personal attention.”

Blott’s lawyer Roy Millen said although his client acknowledged there was evidence of wrongdoing, he wasn't admitting guilt to anything.

Blott told the panel he accepted the statement of facts presented by his lawyer yet offered no apology and also stated: “I don’t have anything to add.”

Some of the agreed upon facts included the following:

• Blott used the services of two non-lawyer companies – Honor Walk Ltd. and Residential Schools Healing Society – and their form-fillers to solicit clients and process their claims.
• Those companies were operated by then-Calgary entrepreneur Thom Denomme, who met Blott in 2005.
• They charged survivors for their services and, in violation of the IAP, took the money straight from the compensation payout.
• Using their services implied hiring Blott as their attorney.
• File administration was done by a third company – Hands-Free Office Systems – run by Denomme’s girlfriend Jennifer Mackenzie, then of Bragg Creek.
• Employees of all four companies worked out of each other’s offices.
• Denomme directed form-fillers to stick to certain ‘harms’ Blott said were commonly accepted by adjudicators of the claims.
• Blott paid Denomme $200,000 a month, amounting to more than $6 million through 2011.
• Blott lawyers failed clients in most areas, especially when they reviewed applications over the phone instead of in-person and submitted claims.
• Claims were altered, submitted late and sent in even if clients had died.
• Documents were pre-witnessed, signatures were cut and pasted onto forms, and wrong dates were used.
• 1,159 applications were found in storage that clients believed had been submitted.
• 182 applications were labelled Do Not Qualify while, in fact, some of them did.
• Four times Blott told clients their claims were rejected by the government when, in fact, it was he who rejected them.
• Blott charged the highest fee allowable under the IAP of 30 per cent in each case.
• Clients could not reach Blott & Company lawyers by phone.
• Blott handled 380 loans for 77 clients contrary to third-party rules in the IAP.
• 10 lenders loaned the principal amount of $3.3 million.
• Three of the main loan companies were Settlement Lenders of Edmonton, Bridgepoint Financial of Toronto and Funds Now of Calgary, operated by another friend David Hamm of Calgary.
• Hamm would sell big-screen TVs and laptop computers to clients from their loans.
• Hamm received a 20 per cent finder’s fee on each of his loans.
• Blott’s brother invested in Funds Now.
• Interest fees on loans ranged from 19.95 per cent to 29.95 per cent annually or between $50 and $500 monthly, and deducted from compensation awards.
• The fee charged by Funds Now increased the interest to exceed a criminal rate of interest that exceeds 60 per cent annually.