Final Day of Court (yesterday!)

A high-powered law guy, who came to listen.

This all went down yesterday, but I was so burnt out by hanging around in a court room for three days (nothing like the effort Me. Goulet made to prepare and conduct her case on the part of freelance writers!). Here's what we sent to the membership:

This afternoon, Me. Mirielle Goulet made her rebuttal to arguments by high-profile lawyers on the final day of the Electronic Rights Defence Committee's class action authorization hearing. Now the case goes under advisement, and we can do nothing but wait for Judge Eva Petras' word as to whether the class action goes ahead. She has six months to render her judgment, but decisions can come more quickly than that. We'll let you know at the first opportunity. As Judge Petras said when summing up, "it's not quite so easy."

Much appreciation is due to the freelancers who took time out to show up at the hearing and support Me. Goulet's efforts. David Homel, who is the poster boy for our side, deserves special thanks for his assiduity. Unlike the lawyers on the other side, none of us were being paid to be there.

More later.

Jack Ruttan, ERDC secretary

Mary Soderstrom, ERDC President

I kept awake much of the time by drawing, so here are some sketches:

This is the other side, with its defense.


Here's our side, rebutting their side. Go Mirielle!


An angry lawyer and a kute (tm) kitty:


More action of a different kind, tomorrow, because tonight is the monthly Montreal Comic Jam!

Montreal, from the Palais du Justice

A pretty blog post from Mary Soderstrom, one of my colleagues in the ERDC class action for electronic rights for freelancers (please read below) reminded me that I had taken this picture from the window near the courtroom where all the 'drama' is taking place.


At right is Notre Dame Cathedral, while that ship-like building in the back is the Five Roses Flour Mill. (called it "Robin Hood" at first, but that's further down the road!)

A court presentation is mainly hours of boredom punctuated by moments of high emotion. They don't put this all on TV. Just the exciting stuff.

ERDC Authorization hearings, Day Two

Gosh, I was in court all day with the below, and the scanner isn't ready at the moment for graphical stuff (Mainly I've been drawing silly pictures of real people, and don't want to spread them around too much). So here's the update of what was happening. Wednesday will be the last day.

Lawyers for the opposition took the floor today at the Electronic Rights
Defense Committee class action authorization hearings. Some harsh
things were said. For example, it was alleged that the ERDC was not a
serious group, and consisted of only a handful of "hard core" members.

The opposition will continue for part of tomorrow (Wednesday), but our
representative, Me. Mireille Goulet, will have her time for a rebuttal.
After that, it's up to Judge Eva Petras, but she is unlikely to hand
down her decision immediately. Whatever happens, we'll keep you posted.

Having members of the freelance writing community present at the hearing
is important, and helps our case. Please turn out for the final day of
hearings, tomorrow, Wednesday
February 27, 2008, at the Palais de Justice Montreal, 1 Notre Dame East
(between Notre Dame and St. Jacques at boul. St. Laurent - Metro Place
des Armes), 16th floor, Room 16.01 at 9:15 am, on the dot. There will be a
break for
lunch about 12:30 p.m., and the hearing will resume about 2:15 p.m.

Electronic Rights Class Action Court Date, and Water

This is what I've been doing today.


Here's a note I've sent out to Canadian freelance writers, as Secretary of the Electronic Rights Defense Committee. I'll explain more about what that is later. But for now, here's the update from today.

Monday, February 25, 2008 6:30 p.m.

Today the authorization hearing for the Electronic Rights Defence
Committee's class action on behalf of freelancers kicked off at the
Palais de Justice in Montreal with Me. Mireille Goulet in fine form.
The defendants in the case, which goes back more than 10 years, are the
Montreal Gazette Group, CanWest Global Communications, Hollinger
Canadian Publishing Holdings, CanWest Interactive, Southam and Southam
Business Communications, Infomart Dialog and Cedrom-SNI.

Representatives from the Professional Writers Association of Canada
(PWAC), Quebec Writers Federation (QWF,) the Writers' Union of Canada
(TWUC) and the Union des Écrivaines et des
Écrivains Québécois (UNEQ) testified as to the case's importance to
Canadian freelancers. Heather Robertson, whose class action case on
similar electronic rights issues against the Thomson chain reached the
Canadian Supreme Court, also sent her good wishes.

But the hearing continues tomorrow morning, and Wednesday as well. We
urge writers to show their support by attending the hearings. Tuesday's
session will begin at 9:15 a.m. in Room 16.01 at the Palais de Justice
Montreal, 1 Notre Dame East (between Notre Dame and St. Jacques at
boul. St. Laurent - Metro Place des Armes), Room 16.01

Please come out, and support the cause of freelancers and electronic rights
across Canada.

Jack Ruttan, ERDC Secretary

Mary Soderstrom, ERDC President

Writer Mary Soderstrom, on her excellent blog, posted the call to arms, so I feel as if I've been too shy writing about this myself. Please come to the Palais de Justice in Montreal, and support freelance writers!

Kept awake during the court hearing by drawing a lot. This is all I feel comfortable putting up at the moment.