More than three months after being accused of breach of trust and poor business acumen in a $16.5 million lawsuit, Premier Doug Ford has yet to respond with a defence.

The legal attacks against Ford came from his late brother Rob’s widow Renata, who filed a statement of claim against Doug, his brother Randy and Ford company Deco Labels on June 1, just days before the election that elevated Doug to power.

Renata has alleged in her statement of claim that Doug, as one of the trustees of her late husband’s estate, committed a “breach of trust” by selling without her knowledge or approval Rob’s share of one arm of the family business to Randy for $1. She has also alleged that Doug and Randy are such poor executives — she claims “neither Doug Ford nor Randy Ford have the education and business ability” to run the company — that the firm’s value has plummeted.

Doug Ford, from the campaign trail, fired back.

“Those statements are false. They’re without merit. That’ll be proven in court,” he told the media on June 5, two days before the election that saw Ford’s Progressive Conservative party win a majority.

Court records show that while Ford’s lawyers filed a one-page document on the eve of the election stating they intend to defend the attacks, a “statement of defence” revealing their side of the story has not been filed. Typically, according to Ontario’s rules of civil procedure, a statement of defence must be filed within 30 days. If parties agree to a delay, that can be longer, but nothing in the court files indicates there have been discussions. And neither side is talking.

The Star has reached out to both sides in the suit and neither will comment. Queen’s Park watchers noted that Renata was present at the swearing in of Doug as premier.

Don Jack, lawyer for Renata Ford, has said he cannot discuss the case.

David Foulds, lawyer for Doug Ford and others named in the suit, said through his administrative assistant that he could not comment.

Simon Jeffries, a spokesperson for the premier, said in late August “we’re going to decline to comment.”

Premier Ford, in a brief comment during a recent media scrum on other matters, said he had nothing to say about Renata’s suit. “Not right now … there’s no updates,” Ford said on Aug. 29.

Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford died of cancer March 22, 2016. The trustee of his estate (a trustee is an executor) is Doug Ford, with Randy to take over if Doug cannot fulfil the duties, according to a copy of Rob’s will signed two years before his death.

Estate trustees are required by law to follow instructions left by the deceased, and to manage and settle the estate and provide a full accounting to those named in the will. Rob’s will names Renata and her two children as sole beneficiaries.

In Renata’s filings in court, she alleges that Doug and Randy have mismanaged both Rob’s estate and the family company. Rob had two wills, a primary will with about $1 million in assets and a secondary will (typical of people with private companies) that held his shares in the Deco companies.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Renata said she has learned that Rob’s partial ownership in the Toronto arm of Deco (the company also has a Chicago division) was sold by Doug to Randy for $1 without her knowledge or approval. She said Doug had earlier tried to negotiate a deal with her without “the lawyers” and she had said no. Doug had told her, Renata said, that owning the shares in Deco Toronto would be “too stressful” for her.

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Renata has also alleged that Doug and Randy have, over the years, “grossly overcompensated” themselves at Deco where they were senior executives; hired friends who were ill-qualified to work at the company, and, through a series of misguided acquisitions, damaged the company, costing it millions of dollars in lost revenue. Renata has also alleged that Doug and Randy used the privately-owned Deco companies to pay for their “personal expenses” and their friends’ personal expenses.

When news of Renata’s allegations first broke, Diane Ford, mother of Doug, Rob, Randy and sister Kathy, issued a statement in support of Doug, noting what she termed Renata’s “serious struggles with addiction.” In a January 2018 pre-sentence report related to a drunk-driving charge Renata faced, Diane Ford told a probation officer that Renata was “responding well” to treatment and counselling for substance abuse issues. Renata received a suspended sentence on June 20, 2018 and a two-year driving ban for the 2016 offence.

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