At the café table, Vincent Ranger doesn't try to play the hero. I don't know if he would have met us if his friends hadn't insisted. In any case, he would never have called us.
Published at 12:57 am. Updated at 05:00.
What this young lawyer (admitted to the bar in 2012) has just achieved deserves a warm embrace from Themis, the goddess of justice.
The best and worst of our justice system are concentrated in the case where he refuses to be the star.
The worst: the incredible difficulty for ordinary citizens to defend themselves against an exploiter. Institutional indifference to something that is obviously abusive but too complicated and too long. Police, lawyers, courts… Sorry, no time, bad papers, look elsewhere.
Best of all: the full commitment of a lawyer who decided that justice would be done. And who does this pro bono, i.e. free of charge?
Me Ranger wasn't particularly trying to avoid boredom by getting involved in a bad affair. After brilliant studies, he worked as a research assistant at the Court of Appeal and specialized, so to speak, in pure law: drafting appeal briefs and complex proceedings. But from time to time he volunteers at the Mile End Legal Clinic. Usually pretty simple things.
In August 2018, a woman visited him. She owns a unit in a 119-apartment building in Montreal. She says she is being harassed by the owner of the building. Nothing special so far… Until the young lawyer poked his nose into the Byzantine legal structure of the building and the quagmire of litigation in which everything had sunk.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The Ahuntsic-Cartierville building was at the center of the dispute, which was addressed by attorney Vincent Ranger
“I realized it was a real basket of crabs,” he said. On a human level it was a catastrophic case, but on a legal level it was complex. »
In this building, where three-quarters of the people are renters, Maher Balabanian sold between 40 and 50 of the 119 units from 2007 to 2013. A seemingly good deal for owners who aren't digging for gold: the apartments sold for between $100,000 and $200,000.
The problem is that these apartments were sold in “undivided” co-ownership. In other words, these are not individual “condominiums”, but rather a share of the total property – from 0.5% to 1%. Even now it is not entirely legally clear and easy to handle.
Second problem, which arises from the first: banks do not issue loans for these types of agreements. No problem: Mr. Balabanian is also a mortgage lender. It finances the purchase for a down payment of 20% or even 10%. Isn't that nice? No it's not.
Third problem: In the event of a dispute, the contract stipulates that you must contact an arbitrator. At the expense of the complainant. And sometimes Mr. Balabanian imposes “fines.” Because of an insult (he was once called “Pharaoh”). For entering the garage too quickly with your bike. Etc. Would you like to take part in a competition? You have to go to the referee. Otherwise, the fine will be added to the costs.
Better yet: Since Mr. Balabanian owns almost 80% of the building, he represents the majority in the co-owners' meeting. In any case, the contract generally provides for a transfer of voting rights in his favor.
In short, the building is a kind of absolute monarchy.
Beware of everyone who complains in this very, very poorly maintained building: they will cut off their power, they will shout at them, they will cause them a thousand griefs, they will be persecuted…
When this woman comes to Me Ranger in 2018 and learns about the extent of the legal quagmire, he realizes how difficult it is. He doesn't yet know that he has to spend more than 1,000 hours on it. He cannot imagine someone coming and breaking a window in his house with a hammer twice, or a brick breaking a window in his house another time. There appears to be no evidence that these intimidation tactics are related to the case. However, according to the latest news, the threats against a judicial officer did not bother the police.
Nevertheless, the lawyer took the step. He fought. Finally. Barely. And on Jan. 15, Superior Court Judge Janick Perreault agreed with him entirely.
The judge ordered the legal sale of the building for around ten million and the payment of significant compensation to 20 Balabanian victims. A total of 5.9 million in damages and 1.3 million in interest will be deducted from the sales proceeds.
“Without Me Vincent Ranger serving a pro bono mandate, this dispute appears to have had no outcome,” the judge wrote, amazed at the bad faith of Balabanian, who conducted “a campaign of 'judicial exhaustion' of small property owners.” He “intentionally staged harassment and violated several fundamental rights.” […] with the aim of getting rich from them.”
why did he do that?
“Given the misery of these people, almost all of whom have a migrant background, I could not abandon them. They come from Eastern Europe and the Maghreb and didn't understand that something like this could happen in Quebec. As a Quebecer, I was a little embarrassed and couldn't accept that there was no cure. I wanted to convince them that we could achieve this. »
A “happy ending” that also illustrates how difficult it is to combat abuse in our justice system. To be considered “abusive,” the behavior must reach almost psychiatric levels. And again, without Me Ranger, these abuses would never have been stopped. However, there is a notary who signs “legal” contracts, but they open the door to all kinds of abuse. A mandatory arbitration clause had a major advantage for Balabanian: It privatized his legal affairs with his co-owners.
There are police officers who shrug their shoulders at this “civil” matter – even though it gives the impression of white-collar crime and criminal harassment. Not to mention that the case in court will be passed from one judge to another depending on whether Balabanian cheated.
There is no doubt: without this lawyer's commitment, justice would never have been achieved. He did it for these 20 people who would never have had the means to fight this fight.
But he also did it for us if you ask me, because every injustice corrected makes this earth run a little better.