Her own sworn evidence became part of the problem.
An Alberta court has ordered a former financial advisor to post staged security for costs in her seven-year malpractice fight against her old law firm.
Justice M.A. Marion of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta issued the ruling on September 9, 2026. The plaintiff sued the firm on May 9, 2019, over its handling of her defence in an earlier lawsuit that a First Nation had filed against her back in 2006, when she worked as the First Nation's financial advisor. She alleges negligence, breach of professional obligations and breach of fiduciary duty.
The plaintiff says the firm changed the terms of her insurance policy inside the retainer agreement, acted while in an undisclosed conflict of interest, mishandled her appeals, kept information from her, and took direction only from the insurer paying for her defence rather than from her. She wants unquantified damages for lost income, plus general, punitive and exemplary damages. Back in 2021, a related application asked for at least $1,000,000 from the firm.
The firm asked the court for security for costs, arguing the plaintiff wouldn't be able to pay if her case failed. Justice Marion agreed. He called her claim against the firm relatively weak and pointed out she already owes the firm at least $29,360 from earlier cost awards she hasn't paid. He ordered her to post $20,000 within two months if she wants to pursue a related summary judgment application, then a further $30,000 before the case can move toward discovery - well short of the $150,000 to $245,000 the firm had asked for.
The ruling also raised a credibility problem. The plaintiff's sworn affidavit cited three cases to argue the application had come too soon, but the judge found none of them held up - the citation numbers actually led to unrelated rulings, including two criminal cases. Justice Marion said the fabricated citations were "particularly problematic and calls into question the reliability of her affidavit evidence generally." She was also declared a vexatious litigant by the Federal Court back in 2025.
Justice Marion turned down the plaintiff's request for roughly $200,000 in advanced costs to help pay for the litigation - she hadn't met the legal bar for that kind of funding. He also declined to approve her bid for more records from the firm and the insurer, calling it unsupported and premature.
The takeaway for wealth professionals: courts won't let a weak claim drag on just because the plaintiff has nothing to lose, and a sworn affidavit full of invented case law can sink a litigant's credibility fast.
