The long list of people Larry Finck and Carline VandenElsen are suing got a
little shorter Tuesday.

Justice Arthur Pickup granted an application to strike the names of two
Ontario judges from a lawsuit the couple filed.

"I am satisfied that these justices are immune from civil pursuit," Justice
Pickup said in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

He also ruled that there was "nothing before me to suggest they acted
outside their duty."

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 10 against 18 people and organizations, Mr. Finck
and Ms. VandenElsen allege that Justices David Aston and Grant Campbell of Ontario
Superior Court acted with "malicious intent" against them in court matters.

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that Justice Aston sabotaged sales
of Ms. Van-denElsen's book, which detailed her flight to Mexico in 2000 with
her seven-year-old triplets when her ex-husband, Craig Merkley, had custody
of them.

They also allege that Justice Campbell damaged Ms. Van-denElsen's reputation
through comments he made in his decision to terminate her access to her
triplets.

Scott Norton, lawyer for the two Ontario judges, told the Nova Scotia court
Tuesday that his clients denied each of the allegations. He argued that
allowing the claims against his clients to continue would "compromise
judicial independence" and he asked Justice Pickup to strike all references
to his clients from the action.

Mr. Finck didn't argue against Mr. Norton's submission but asked Justice
Pickup to rule so he could appeal his decision to the Nova Scotia Court of
Appeal.
The judge ruled in favour of the application, removing the Ontario judges as
defendants and all references to them in the lawsuit. They did not ask the
court for costs and Justice Pickup didn't award any.

Since the case was launched, the courts have dismissed claims against two
other judges - Justice Robert Wright of Nova Scotia Supreme Court and
Justice Deborah Smith of the Supreme Court family division - after ruling
that they are also protected by judicial immunity.

The remaining defendants include the Children's Aid Society of Stratford,
Ont., and two of its workers, the Children's Aid Society of Halifax and two
of its workers, Halifax Regional Police, the Central Nova Scotia
Correctional Facility, a Halifax doctor and Mr. Merkley and his wife, Janis
Searle, both of Stratford.

Ms. VandenElsen was brought to the court building Tuesday from the Nova
Institution in Truro, where she is serving 3½ years for her role in a
lengthy armed standoff in May 2004 over a court order to seize the infant
daughter she had with Mr. Finck.

The standoff ended after nearly three days when Ms. VandenElsen and Mr.
Finck came out of his mother Mona's Shirley Street home with the baby and
carrying a dead Mona Finck on a makeshift stretcher. Mr. Finck's elderly
mother had died of natural causes during the standoff.

Ms. VandenElsen refused to enter the courtroom for Tuesday's hearing and
stayed in the cells while Mr. Finck, who is serving 4½ years at the
Springhill Institution, argued their case. The couple was allowed to confer
for an hour during an adjournment to review a lengthy submission from Mr.
Norton.

The couple will be back in Halifax on Oct. 14 for a Nova Scotia Court of
Appeal hearing on the June 22 family court order that placed their daughter
in the permanent custody of the Children's Aid Society of Halifax.