(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
June 16, 2015 - 6:00 AM
KAMLOOPS - A 74-year-old man who wrongfully acted as a lawyer and created legal documents has been banned from entering any courthouse in British Columbia.
Charles Bryfogle has been found guilty on eight counts of being in contempt of court and is forbidden from filing legal documents on behalf of himself or others.
The ruling in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops came after a legal action by the province's regulator for lawyers.
The B.C. Law Society wanted to see Bryfogle go to jail for 21 days, but Justice Victoria Gray handed him a three-year suspended sentence and said he will jailed if he breaches his probation terms.
Brydogle has been declared a "vexatious litigant" in both B.C. and Arizona. The term applies to people who consistently engage in court actions that harass people or undermine the justice system.
Gray called Bryfogle's conduct troubling.
“Mr. Bryfogle is not a lawyer and has never been a lawyer,” she wrote in a decision released Friday.
Court records show Bryfogle's legal misadventures have included representing litigants in a case involving mercury poisoning from dental work, creating a trust document, and slander and defamation against his own family.
At times he has been paid for his work. He breached previous terms of orders requiring him to inform the B.C. Law Society of any legal action.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2015