Adam Stikuts

Associate

Adam has a diverse civil and commercial litigation practice representing entrepreneurs, executives, creators, and businesses big and small. From Small Claims to the Court of Appeal, Adam skillfully advocates for clients facing a broad range of issues, including joint venture, shareholder, and partnership disputes, professional negligence, and defamation claims. In addition to his extensive knowledge of corporate and commercial litigation, Adam also represents clients in the arts, entertainment, and media sectors.

Before joining Paris & Sayer LLP, Adam spent his summer and articling terms at Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, where he worked on high-profile cases including injunctions, sensitive defamation advice, and publicly commissioned investigations.

Upon graduating from McGill University’s bilingual dual-degree common law and civil law program, Adam received prizes for holding top standing in Evidence and Civil Procedure and for achieving the highest average in his year across the mandatory courses of the McGill Law program.

Adam is passionate about persuasive writing, effective oral advocacy, and clear communication in every aspect of his practice. He is fluent in French and conversant in Danish and Spanish. Before law school, Adam completed his Bachelor of Arts at McGill, studying linguistics, French-English translation, and music technology. In his free time, Adam is a cyclist, 9-ball pool player, DJ, and dance music producer with releases on respected record labels in the United States and Europe.

ADAM’S Notable Decisions

  • Defeated an appeal of two successful personal bankruptcy petitions and a motion for fresh evidence before the Court of Appeal. The appellant was attempting to enter an expert report from a forensic accountant/certified fraud examiner and other documents. The Court of Appeal excluded all of the fresh evidence, including the expert report, after Adam obtained admissions from the expert on cross-examination. The Court then dismissed the appeal from the bench (2023 ONCA 756).

  • Obtained an urgent ex parte Norwich order against an Ontario-based VoIP telephony service to identify an anonymous user who was harassing and threatening employees of Bungie Inc., a major video game developer based in the United States (2022 ONSC 4181). The information disclosed under the Ontario order allowed Bungie to identify the perpetrator and obtain both an interim injunction to restrain him from committing further abuse and a judgment against him for approximately $500,000 USD that recognized a new tort in the State of Washington.

  • While acting for an online streaming broadcaster, overturned the decision of a Federal Court prothonotary on appeal before a single judge (2022 FC 418) and then successfully upheld that decision before the Federal Court of Appeal (2023 FCA 148) to obtain a stay of proceedings in favour of arbitrating an intellectual property dispute in a foreign jurisdiction.

  • Successfully defended a jurisdictional motion brought by multiple foreign defendants to stay or strike a C-suite executive client’s Ontario lawsuit for torts committed during overseas travel (unreported, 2021).

While acting for Magenta Mortgage Investment Corporation (one of Canada’s oldest and largest mortgage investment corporations) and its affiliates:

  • Defeated three appeals by a mortgagor attempting to overturn or stay the client’s successful partial summary judgments on three mortgages (2021 ONCA 589).

  • Defeated three simultaneous motions for leave to appeal to the Divisional Court and obtained enhanced costs sanctions against the moving parties (2021 ONSC 5444, 2021 ONSC 5445, 2021 ONSC 5446).

  • Defeated a motion for injunctive relief relating to the transfer of a permit issued under the Endangered Species Act (2021 ONSC 67).

  • Obtained an urgent, court-approved power of attorney allowing the client to overcome gridlock between partners in a contested land development project (2021 ONSC 86).

  • Successfully resisted the consolidation of seven actions sharing numerous overlapping facts, witnesses, and lending agreements so that mortgage enforcement litigation could proceed on a summary basis separate from other claims (2020 ONSC 808).

  • During power of sale proceedings, defended the mortgagee client against an urgent motion without notice for a certificate of pending litigation (2019 ONSC 4789) and obtained substantial indemnity costs as a punitive sanction for the moving party’s “reprehensible” litigation conduct (2019 ONSC 5948).

  • Defeated a motion for injunctive relief and appointment of a receiver-manager on behalf of a joint venture partner in a multi-million-dollar land development project (2019 ONSC 517).

  • Negotiated on behalf of a sexual assault whistleblower to prevent a potential defamation claim from a convicted offender. The offender was threatening litigation to silence online reports of the offender’s conviction and community concerns about similar incidents (2021).

  • Represented a wholesaler in a case against its former law firm in respect of a complex and large-scale fraud committed by one of its former partners (2020).

  • Successfully lifted the automatic stay of a judgment pending appeal at the Court of Appeal (unreported, 2017).