“Solicitors have special rights both under statute and at common law to facilitate payment of their client accounts: Edwin G. Upenieks & Robert J. van Kessel, Enforcing Judgments and Orders, 2d ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2016), at s. 8.1. These include both charging orders, under s. 34 of the Solicitors Act, and solicitors’ liens on funds, derived from the court’s inherent jurisdiction: see Halton Standard Condominium Corp. No. 627 v. Grandview Living Inc., 2017 ONSC 1761 (CanLII), at paras. 29-30; Thomas Gold Pettinghill LLP v. Ani-Wall Concrete Forming Inc., 2012 ONSC 2182 (CanLII), 349 D.L.R. (4th) 431, at paras. 84-89.
This takes us to the question of jurisdiction raised by Brown J.A.
A court’s inherent jurisdiction to declare a lien on the proceeds of its own judgments is well-established: Thomas Gold Pettinghill LLP, at para. 89; Re Tots and Teens Sault Ste. Marie Ltd. (1976), 1975 CanLII 535 (ON SC), 11 O.R. (2d) 103 (S.C.), at p. 108; Welsh v. Hole (1779), 99 E.R. 155 (K.B.), at pp. 15556. It follows that this court has the inherent jurisdiction to grant, when warranted, a solicitor’s lien over the $50,000 in costs awarded in favour of the Client on the appeal.
In the light of this conclusion, the question remains as to whether this court has jurisdiction to issue a charging order under the Solicitors Act or a solicitors’ lien over the damages and costs awarded by the Superior Court.
In our view, it does. A judge of the Court of Appeal is, by virtue of his or her office, a judge of the Superior Court with all of the jurisdiction, power and authority of a judge of that court under s. 13(2) of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, and under s. 134(1) of that Act may make any order or decision that could have been made by the court appealed from. There is no dispute that a judge of the Superior Court has the jurisdiction, both pursuant to s. 34 of the Solicitors Act and, as previously indicated, under the court’s inherent jurisdiction, to grant a charging order or lien on the damages and costs awarded in that court: e.g., Dalcor Inc. v. Unimac Group Ltd., 2017 ONSC 945 (CanLII), 136 O.R. (3d) 585, at para. 14; Thomas Gold Pettinghill LLP, at para. 89. To the extent a Superior Court judge could order a charge or a lien, a Court of Appeal judge is accordingly empowered to do so the same.”