A B.C. Supreme Court judge has awarded an immigration lawyer $400,000 after finding a Beijing-based company with a Richmond, B.C., office forged his signature on Canadian immigration applications.
Ontario lawyer Lihua Bao alleged the defendants appropriated his name and forged his signature as a lawyer on a number of immigration applications submitted to provincial immigration nominee programs on behalf of their clients.
In the case before Justice Matthew Kirchner, Bao sought damages for the misuse of his name and signature.
In his Sept. 6 decision, Kirchner said the immigration applications were submitted by the defendant Welltrend United Consulting Inc., Beijing (“Welltrend Beijing”) on behalf of clients seeking to immigrate to Canada from China.
Also listed as defendants were Limin Wang, Rong Huang, Hai Huang and Welltrend Canada Consulting Inc. The latter has an office in Richmond, B.C.
Kirchner stressed Bao’s contract was with Welltrend Beijing, not Welltrend Canada.
“While there may be some ownership connections between the two companies, Welltrend Canada is a separate company with no involvement in this matter,” Kirchner said. “This proceeding’s connection to British Columbia is tenuous at best, held only by the thread of Welltrend Canada being a British Columbia company.”
Kirchner ultimately decided the case was one of breach of contract.
Welltrend Beijing is an immigration consulting firm in China but at the material times was not registered as a qualified immigration consultant in Canada. For that reason, the company required a Canadian lawyer to sign off on its clients’ applications to Canada, and contracted with Bao to provide the services.
The agreement with Bao was limited to applications made to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Company tried to receive $20K commissions from Nova Scotia government
Welltrend Beijing submitted 25 applications to a Nova Scotia immigration nominee program using Bao’s name as the authorized immigration representative and forged his signature on the forms without his knowledge or consent, Kirchner said.
Bao only learned of this when an official with the Nova Scotia Immigration Office contacted him about five of the applications.
In November 2014, Bao received five emailed letters from the Nova Scotia Immigration Office. Each dealt with successful applicants for immigration; court documents state that province paid a $20,000 commission to representatives such as Bao.
“Mr. Bao was surprised to receive these letters since he had never acted as a representative for any of Welltrend’s clients applying under the Nova Scotia program,” Kirchner said. “Nor had he ever heard of any of the five successful applicants named in the letters.”
When Bao brought up the matter with Welltrend Beijing, a representative from the company asked him to sign the applications so the company could get the commissions.
Kirchner said the company had identified Bao to the government as its lawyer on the applications.
“Welltrend Beijing had falsely identified Mr. Bao as the lawyer for these applications and had done so by forging his signature on the applications,” Kirchner said.
Bao claimed Welltrend Beijing’s actions constituted a breach of contract, and alleged Welltrend Beijing and the other defendants acted fraudulently and conspired to commit an unlawful act to harm him.
And, he argued, Welltrend Beijing has been unjustly enriched at his expense by collecting fees from its clients for the immigration applications and collecting commissions paid by the Nova Scotia government for each successful application.
Bao sought an order that Welltrend Beijing disgorge for all profits it has earned from the applications filed using his name.
The defendants filed a response to civil claim but after changing lawyers in 2018, their second lawyer withdrew in June 2022. None of the defendants appeared at trial.
Kirchner did not award Bao the full amount he sought.
“I accept that the wrongful use of Mr. Bao’s name and the forging of his signature is a wrong done to Mr. Bao, it is in fact a fraud that was perpetrated on the government of Nova Scotia and ultimately the government of Canada by causing those governments to believe that the immigration applications had been submitted by a lawyer licensed to practice law in Canada,” Kirchner said.
As such, Kirchner awarded the $20,000 commission Bao would have earned on 20 legitimate applications.
