Sydney court case

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has slashed a damage award for a Sydney man who sued his lawyer over a car accident claim.

A lower court awarded George Poulain $113,000N for loss of indemnity benefits as a result of negligence by his lawyer David Ianetti of North Sydney. It also ordered Ianetti to pay $17,000 in costs and $12,000 in disbursements.

Now the appeals judges have slashed the damages award to a nominal $1,000 and lowered the costs to $10,000. The judges ruled the contract between Iannetti and Poulain only dealt with one aspect of the insurance claim and that it was Poulain alone who dealt with the second claim.