Wacko Litigant

Let me tell you about a fascinating fellow from Toronto. He will remain nameless for reasons which I will detail below.

One day, he tried to return a phone to a store. The clerk tried to help him, but his receipt didn’t match the price for the item and he wanted a cash refund for a credit card purchase. The clerk noticed the security tag still on the phone.

She called her manager, who asked her to call mall security. Before security had a chance to even speak to this guy, the guy assaulted him. He was arrested.

The guy then sued the store and the security company. He did not have a lawyer. His case was dismissed after trial. He appealed, all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which refused to hear the appeal.

He also sued the police chief and the police force. He lost. He appealed that all the way to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the appeal.

He filed complaints against the lawyers involved in the case, including a lawyer who had acted for him in the very beginning. He filed complaints about the doctors who gave evidence. He filed a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.

In another case, he and a neighbour had a dispute. Ultimately, the neighbour won a judgment against him for defamation. That case made TWO trips to the Supreme Court.

After losing the neighbour case, he sued the neighbour’s lawyer and two Small Claims Court judges who were involved in it. He lost that and lost this year at the Ontario Court of Appeal. He may yet appeal that one to the Supreme Court.

I checked the Supreme Court web site. He has applied for leave to appeal lower court decisions EIGHT times! He has one on the go right now!

He has lost every decision.

He has been described by doctors as a paranoid schizophrenic. On judge said: "…it was clear to me that [plaintiff] is suffering from mental illness…"

Courts have described him as a vexatious litigant. I can’t believe that no-one has obtained an order preventing him from starting any new complaints/lawsuits without prior permission. Of course, that would just lead to another appeal at the Supreme Court!

This guy is bad news. He is 68 years old and has been on a disability pension since 1985. It seems that all he does with his time is sue anyone for anything, complain that the world is conspiring against him and pursue every complaint to the highest level.

Of course, nothing that I have written here is the basis for a case. That’s never stopped him before. The reason I’m not naming him is that I don’t want to be his next 6 year adventure to the Supreme Court.

Call me a wimp if you like: I prefer to think of it as being prudent.