Ontario lawyer Javad Heydary flew to Iran 15 months ago and his family said he died soon after arriving in Tehran.
But since he left with much of the money in his law firm’s accounts and was only 49, there have been some suspicions that he may have faked his death and be living well in Iran.
What happened to him still remains a mystery. But now there is a legal battle underway involving three of the lawyers in Heydary’s now-dissolved law firm and an Arab couple whose wealth seems to have left Canada with Heydary.
Heydary’s clients, Hasan and Samira Abuzour, have been fighting for more than a year to retrieve $3.6 million, their life savings, which vanished along with Heydary in November 2013.
Late last year, Justice Michael Penny of the Ontario Superior Court ordered the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LawPRO) to pay $1 million to the Abuzours. That’s the maximum amount payable by the insurance company.
But the trio of lawyers who used to be Heydary’s partners—Jeff Landmann, Darren Smith and Yan Wang—is fighting the terms of the Superior Court order.
The three lawyers argue that, because the Abuzours had threatened to sue them, exhausting Heydary’s insurance policy would leave no coverage to defend themselves in costly proceedings.
They said they were not given sufficient notice to make their case before Judge Penny’s order was issued, and that, based on their concerns, the judge should set aside the order, or make payment conditional on the release of the couple’s claims against them.
Heydary and his firm were found in contempt in 2013—before Heydary disappeared—for defying a court order to repay $2.1 million he was supposed to be holding in trust for the Abuzours. The couple subsequently obtained another order for the remaining $1.5 million, but again, to no effect.