DEATH & NOODLES
NEWSThe story of a man who says a visit to a free legal clinic ruined his life
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LINDA GYULAI—HOUR MAGAZINE August 18, 1997
Two short years ago, Zhen Guo Pan lived with his wife and daughter in a Cote-des-Neiges apartment. Pan a native of Shanghai who came to Montreal in 1987, worked as a chef at a popular Thai restaurant, hoping to one day earn enough money to open his own business. But after his wife’s accidental death in December 1995 and a subsequent consultation at the downtown YWCA `s free legal clinic with a former lawyer with a history of disbarment and other legal problems, Pan’s life started to unravel.
In an age when it’s tough to know who to trust, this is a nightmarish story that has degenerated into a mess of accusations, police reports and, most recently, an impending civil trial over ownership of a restaurant.
And, as of this month, Pan’s encounter with ex-lawyer Enza Martuccelli at the Women’s Y in 1995 is the subject of an investigation by Montreal’s Regional Health and Social Services Board, the body that funds community organizations like the YWCA after Pan filed a complaint, the regional health board wrote the YWCA Aug.11, giving it 30 days to forward documents and other information relative to the case.
Pan’s story has floated across the desks of several authorities, from the MUC police to the Quebec Bar, the Protecteur du Citoyen and even the office of Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Pan, often confined to a room in the psychiatric wing of a Montreal hospital these days, fires off letters to whomever he figures might help.
Pan says that some time after his wife died he brought in Martuccelli to help him acquire Sawatdee restaurant (now located in old Montreal). Since then, he says, he has lost control of the restaurant and$20,000 in life savings
Martuccelli and a partner, Qing Rui He, claim Pan reneged on what was a promised three way split of the restaurant business. They also claim they are out of pocket for expenses in the business.
“We are the victims,” Martuccelli claims, “I suffered last year like you would not imagine. My partner suffered. We have worked in human hours.”
Martuccelli and He’s civil suit against Pan over ownership of the restaurant and $ 4000,000 in compensation has yet to go to trial Among other reasons, Pan hasn’t responded to the suit.
Martuccelli says Pan is welcome to come down to the restaurant and participate as a one third partner in the business. She says Pan prefers to sit and gripe, however.
Pan denies Martuccelli’s charges. Over the past few months, he has shuttled between his home and a sparsely furnished room in the Jewish General Hospital’s psychiatric ward as he deals with depression. Restaurant Sawatdee- the dream business of a Chinese immigrant who says he never went to a lawyer prior to his wife’s death-is now operated by Martuccelli and He.
“I cannot stand it anymore,” says Pan, who keeps a journal with typed installments of his ordeal” Every day is killing me. I have nothing left.”
“We came into Canada, same like other people, we had dreams, we work so hard with our hope…, ”reads an undated journal excerpt. ”Ten years have passed from the date we came into Canada. We never take vacation, we never buy expensive stud, we tried to make more savings until one day we can start some business.”
How did things go so wrong? The answer begins at the YWCA on Rene-Levesque W. In November 1995, Pan’s wife started work as a YWCA volunteer at an Ontario explains. On her first day, she fell down a set of stairs and hit her head on a cement floor. She died in hospital Dec.8 that year.
In the days preceding her death, Pan visited the Y seeking help in dealing with his wife’s doctors. “ I wanted them to continue treatment for her like any other patient,” he says. “ I couldn’t say the words strong enough so I wanted a lawyer.”
The YWCA referred him to Martuccelli, a former lawyer who was disbarred for misappropriation of a client’s funds for 16 months between April 1994 and October 1995. And suspended from the Quebec Bar Association four times before that for unpaid fees, confirms Elise Dulude of the Quebec Bar. Martuccelli has new replied for reinstatement Dulude adds.
When Pan met Martuccelli she was working at the Y’s legal clinic as part of a community vice program: the job was part of her sentence for a conviction related to unpaid traffic tickets.
Pan insists that Martuccelli and the YWCA never told him Martuccelli wasn’t a lawyer.
For her part, Martuccelli said she told Pan she wasn’t a lawyer when he sought her advice at the clinic, and even referred him to the law firm she had previously worked for. Pan says Martuccelli made the referral because she told him he needed a large law firm to work on his wife’s case.
Carole Lavallee, director of communications for the YWCA says Pan’s complaint is “the very first” since the legal clinic opened in 1976. “We serve 1,000 people year. It’s [mentioned] every when in our publicity for the legal clinic that we’re only there to give out information and we’re and lawyers.”
The advisors are required to possess a law degree but aren’t required to be members of the Bar, Lavallee explains. “ He [Pan] was told we can’t do any report sanitation for him in court. He was told clearly she’s a legal advisor.” Likewise, Lavallee adds, Martuccelli was told that she can’t represent clients in court sign papers or set anything in motion legally. “If they had business arrangement after this we’re not aware of anything.”
Lavallee says the Y checks its legal volunteers with the Quebec Bar to make sure “there nothing major.” But the little matter of Martuccelli’s disbarment? Lavallee says she’s not whether it was brought to the organization’s attention.” Her disbarment was over by the time she came here.”
Martuccelli was fined once representing a client in municipal court when she was no longer a member of the bar, a fact Martuccelli confirmed.
At the same time, Martuccelli faces 10 charges of fraud and issuing faise documents, chargers based on what Lt-Det. Emile Bisaillon of the MUC police fraud squad calls “a few complaints from different people. Bisaillon says court records; show Martuccelli didn’t attend her May hearing.
“We’re looking for her-if you find her, tell us,” Bisaillon told Hour last week.
Martuccelli can be found her restaurant. Martuccelli insisted she was never served with the papers, “so I did not fail to appear.”
“I went to court and I put the case back on the roll so that I can appear before a judge on Thursday [Aug. 28], have the rant quashed and plead not guilty.”
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PS: Madam Linda Gyulai—News report article writer for the time was working at HOUR Magazine, presently is working at Gazette Newspaper today as same as news report article writer. Linda Gyulai was the only one paid attention from all of other Canadian medias I visited (major TV & Radio communications as CFCF 12, CTV, CBC, CVA…; major Newspapers as Gazette, Global News, Business Affair, Suburban…unfortunately no one wants to involve since everyone was worry to involve to get suited). And she paid a visit when I (Peter Zhenguo Pan) was locked in at Montreal Jewish General Hospital Mental Institution during the time. Linda Gyulai did all the investigation alone since HOUR Magazine had very limited financial budget.
For more information, complete story and support, please visit: 告加国及海外华人同胞声援请求书--death & Noodles at the topic of 社区活动公告 Bulletin Board
个人不幸经历参考: SUMMARY OF BEING A VISTIM OF CRIME AND IMJUSTICE
http://www.sinoquebec.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=336895
个人不幸经历参考: SUMMARY OF BEING A VISTIM OF CRIME AND IMJUSTICE
http://www.sinoquebec.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=336895
