Kamloops mayor 'lied' about legal fees, says former lawyer

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson "blatantly lied" when claiming he didn't own thousands of dollars in legal bills. That's according to Hamer-Jackson's former lawyer David McMillan, who had a process server deliver a package of documents Tuesday to be used in his attempts to recoup more than $35,000 in unpaid bills. McMillan said the binder contained more than 400 pages of documents and was delivered to the mayor at city hall just minutes before the start of the council meeting, Oct. 8. "This is a new experience for me altogether. I've never had anybody who balked after receiving services, then thinking up false premises for not paying them," McMillan said. "Nor have I run into someone who has just blatantly lied to the press as my former client did to (iNFOnews.ca), Castanet and CBC." Last month, Hamer-Jackson told iNFOnews.ca McMillan had been doing legal work for him for "free" and "on a contingency basis." READ MORE: Kamloops mayor's former lawyer claims $30K in unpaid legal fees in court https://infotel.ca/newsitem/kamloops-mayors-former-lawyer-claims-30k-in-unpaid-legal-fees-in-court/it106396 Hamer-Jackson spoke with reporters outside city hall following the Tuesday council meeting. Asked whether he stands by comments about free or contingent services, he said he and McMillan had a "gentlemen's agreement for lots of things." When asked whether they had a spoken agreement or one in writing, he said "no." When asked again, he told reporters there are written communications over text message and the WhatsApp messaging service. He later brought up a previous arrangement between himself and McMillan when referring to the relationship that spans roughly three decades. "We've been friends for years. We won $235,000 and we shared it. As a matter of fact, with the (Alfred) Achoba thing, when he accused me of being a racist https://infotel.ca/newsitem/no-signs-of-end-to-mayors-year-long-legal-spats-with-non-profits/it95715 , I said maybe we'll hit the jackpot one more time before we retire," Hamer-Jackson said. "He didn't say nothing about that. Or (McMillan) sent me a huge judgement where a mayor sued a councillor and made a huge judgement. Why would he care about that if it was on a contingency — if it wasn't on (sic)?" He wouldn't answer when asked if he was suggesting that arrangement was similar or if an agreement might have been implied. Their day in court comes next week when a judge will review McMillan's application seeking an order that Hamer-Jackson pay him for $35,312 in legal services. McMillan said he had Hamer-Jackson served before it was necessary to avoid attempts to delay the application. He also offered the mayor a chance to include any materials he wanted so it could be included in the package that will be presented a judge before they appear in Kamloops Supreme Court. Hamer-Jackson mayor responded with more than one late-night text message, but no further evidence, according to McMillan. "I gave him a deadline that passed without receiving anything except for some very, very creepy text messages in the middle of the night, but no documents," McMillan said. READ MORE: Kamloops mayor missed more closed meetings than rest of council combined https://infotel.ca/newsitem/kamloops-mayor-misses-more-meetings-than-rest-of-council-combined/it106741 McMillan did not provide specific details about what was included in the binder prepared for court, intending to wait for a judge to review it. What he did say was that it included both conversations between himself and his former client, along with documentation of his legal work for Hamer-Jackson in the past three years meant to justify the $35,312 price tag. Hamer-Jackson said he is still represented by a Vancouver law firm and that he has no pro bono agreements. McMillan said he has not received any responses from Daniel Coles of Owen Bird Law in Vancouver, who's named in the mayor's two ongoing defamation cases, regarding the issue of unpaid legal fees. Coles was not immediately available when iNFOnews.ca reached out. McMillan remains unshaken in his stance that Hamer-Jackson was not only charged legal fees, but that he knew it all along. "I was disappointed to read in the media that Mayor Hamer-Jackson was shocked to find that he's being charged," McMillan said of last month's news coverage. "Well, he wasn't shocked at all. That was just a bare-faced lie. He had been given ample time and opportunity to deal with this stuff and even letters that I sent to both him and his current lawyers went unanswered. "So, the pre-tense that I just woke up one day and cooked up a nefarious plan to charge him unfairly is just nonsense." Although Hamer-Jackson continued to say McMillan's legal work was done pro bono or on a contingent basis, he also indicated there were council discussions around potential indemnification, meaning the City would cover his legal bills specifically as they relate to council code of conduct matters he had McMillan work on. "They were supposed to pay McMillan, and they turned that down," he said. He wouldn't provide more details on the council decision, saying it might have been from a closed council meeting. McMillan and Hamer-Jackson are expected to appear before a judge on Oct. 16, but a decision on the legal fees and whether Hamer-Jackson will be ordered to pay isn't guaranteed on that day. To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .