an automobile accident in August 2010, but emerged uninjured. Guergis sought to rejoin the Conservative caucus after being cleared by the RCMP, but was rejected. She stated she would run as an Independent candidate in the next federal election. Her independent candidacy led to a third-place finish in the May 2011 election, when she gained only 13.5 per cent of the vote. Ethics Commissioner finds against Guergis On May 20, 2010, Federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson fined Guergis $100 for failing to report details of an $800,000 mortgage liability within the 30-day time limit required for MPs. Guergis had purchased an Ottawa home with her husband Rahim Jaffer in November 2009. Guergis said "I simply forgot and I accept responsibility for this oversight, I have already made arrangements to pay the fine – within the 30 days I was provided to do so." In July 2011, Mary Dawson further found Guergis contravened two sections of the MP Conflict of Interest code, by writing a letter of support for a company in the Green Energy sector to a local municipal politician. Guergis's husband Rahim Jaffer was seeking lobbying business from the same company at the time; further issues with Jaffer on this file concerned his not being properly registered as a lobbyist under applicable federal rules, and his employment as a lobbyist too soon after having been an MP. Lawsuit On December 22, 2011, Guergis launched a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Harper, as well as against several other people and organizations, including the federal Tory party, in Ontario Superior Court, over allegations of unfair treatment leading to damage to her reputation and political career. The lawsuit was dismissed from Ontario Superior Court, by Justice Charles Hackland in late August, 2012. Guergis immediately announced her intention to appeal this decision. In the summer of 2013, Guergis filed an amended statement of claim against Snowdy, Glover, the lawyer who had represented Harper in the original lawsuit, and his lawfirm. A lawyer representing Glover and Harper argued that the case should be placed on hold until Guergis had paid the legal costs that had been awarded in the earlier suit, but the judge rejected this argument and ordered that the suit could proceed. Aftermath Guergis announced in the spring of 2012 that she had moved to Edmonton, Alberta and that she had been accepted to study law at the University of Alberta. She