Obviously, I am not a municipal lawyer, so check your sources before jumping to conclusions. However, legal fees are part of the operating costs of most municipalities. The issue is not very clear, as municipalities generally have insurance that covers their costs when they face major lawsuits. However, when a municipality wants to sue a citizen or a business directly, does it have to pay for lawyers? In such a case, these costs should be paid by the municipality out of the budget at the expense of taxpayers.
For those who have already hired a lawyer, you know very well that hourly rates vary between $250 and $800 per hour. Yes, you read that right, $800 per hour! I speak from experience, as in certain specific cases involving private companies, our company paid $650 per hour for a specialized lawyer in 2018. Otherwise, the average price is around $300 per hour. That’s why a simple response from your lawyer to your email can easily cost $200. When you’ve already dealt with one or more lawyers, you know what that means in terms of cost. Especially when you write the check for the fees. That’s the market price you have to pay to get help from a qualified professional such as a lawyer.
So, when a municipality uses lawyers, the bill is usually paid by the municipality and therefore paid for out of taxpayers’ money. In the case of a lawsuit brought by a municipality against a citizen or a legal entity (incorporated company), the latter must pay their legal fees out of their own pocket. So, imagine that you have to pay for hundreds of hours of legal representation to defend yourself against a lawsuit brought by your municipality. You could quickly find yourself spending tens of thousands of dollars, while your municipality is also spending tens of thousands of dollars, but with taxpayers’ money. The battle is usually uneven. It is therefore crucial that municipalities use lawyers for legitimate reasons and not to intimidate or block certain citizens.
Usually, when two people, whether legal entities or not, are in conflict, before spending tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees, they try to resolve the issue out of court to avoid wasting a lot of time, energy, and, above all, money. This is called mediation. People who are familiar with lawyers’ fees are usually interested in avoiding the courts at all costs.
And let’s not forget the time required to prepare a case and the stress involved in having to fight it out in court. Once again, the average person who has to prepare their case with their lawyer in addition to going to court is rarely paid by their employer to do so.
In the case of a battle between a citizen/business and a municipality, one pays out of pocket and the other pays with public money. As is often said, it’s easier to spend other people’s money than your own.
Sometimes a municipality has no choice but to pursue legal action and pay large sums of money to resolve a dispute. However, it is possible that the municipality’s reasons for pursuing legal action are not legitimate. We are all human beings with emotions, which can sometimes make impartiality difficult. Nevertheless, we place our trust in our elected officials to ensure that the municipality acts with kindness and impartiality at all times. That is what we expect from our elected officials.
Nevertheless, there may be cases where a municipality or company decides to sue with malicious intent. For example, a so-called SLAPP lawsuit, which is a lawsuit aimed at silencing a person or company. This type of lawsuit is intended to intimidate someone or a company to discourage them from speaking out or taking action in the future.
So I asked ChatGPT what a SLAPP suit is. Here is its response:
A SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) is an abusive lawsuit filed with the aim of silencing a person or group who speaks out publicly on a matter of public interest.ne question d’intérêt public.
Common examples
- A company is suing a citizen for defamation after he denounced a controversial project (pollution, real estate development, etc.).
- A municipality is suing a group of citizens or journalists for criticizing a political or administrative decision.
Fortunately, gag lawsuits are now better protected by the Quebec Civil Code, according to ChatGPT:
In Quebec: protection against SLAPP suits
In 2009, Quebec passed a law to combat SLAPP suits, called:
An Act to prevent the abusive use of the courts in relation to freedom of expression and citizen participation in public life
Codified in the Code of Civil Procedure of Quebec (notably in section 51 et seq.), it allows the court to:
- Quickly dismiss a lawsuit deemed abusive or intimidating
- Order the plaintiff to pay damages and the legal costs of the defendant.
- Protecting freedom of expression on public issues
That said, municipalities must use public funds for the common good, with kindness and integrity, and not to silence, intimidate, harass, or worse, for personal revenge. Especially since citizens pay twice for legal fees: their own lawyer’s fees and part of the municipality’s lawyer’s fees through their taxes. Admittedly, it is often a battle of unequal financial forces, especially in the case of an ordinary citizen.
So, do you know how much your municipality spends on legal fees? Do you know the reasons for these legal fees? You can ask your municipality to provide you with general information (I don’t think you can find out the details of the lawsuits) on the subject by submitting a formal request for access to information. Of course, it may take some time to get a response, but you will likely receive it eventually.
