"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

No, that line from Shakespeare's Henry VI doesn't quite mean what most people think it does. (Or does it?). In any event, it would seem to make far more sense to start with the Ontario Court of Appeals anyway (all emphasis added):

Last week's decision by the Ontario government to intervene in the case of an innocent homeowner who had her house title stolen represents a calculated risk by the province, which could backfire if the Court of Appeal refuses to overturn one of its own rulings...

Using the name Thomas Wright, the fraudster obtained the mortgage using a bank statement, deposit certificate and letter of employment — all of which were in the fake name. The employment letter was verified by a phone call — to a fake employer — and the lender even obtained a real Dunn and Bradstreet credit report showing that the phony Thomas Wright had established a credit rating.

In March, Maple Trust sued Lawrence, demanding possession of the property — as it was perfectly entitled to do under a rather bizarre decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Last November, the province's highest court ruled that when a wife signed her husband's name with a forged power of attorney, the mortgage was valid and could be used to evict the couple and sell the property.

That decision, in the case of Household Realty v. Chan, turned a century of Ontario land titles law upside down. It also opened the doors for lenders and title insurers to claim that forged mortgages are valid. The Court of Appeal has decided that once any document — genuine or forged — is registered in the land titles system, it is valid.

Poor Shakespeare. What prose he could have written if only he'd met these yahoos.