An Ontario man who "threatened and harassed" his ex-spouse after they broke up has been ordered to pay $15,000.00 in damages for intentionally inflicting mental distress, plus nearly a quarter million dollars in legal costs.
Law journalist Cristin Schmitz reports in the Ottawa Citizen that Darko Danicic (also known as Danic) deliberately used abusive tactics in a failed attempt to intimidate Traci McLean, his ex-common-law spouse, into dropping her property and spousal support claims.
He wrote McLean crudely abusive letters, denied their romantic involvement, unsuccessfully attempted to get her lawyer disbarred, and threatened to send private intimate photographs of her to her grandmother. Schmitz calls the ruling “unusual, if not unique” in that it awards mental suffering damages in the absence of “assaultive conduct” such as battery or forcible confinement.
- Bill Rogers, Student-at-Law, Toronto
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4 comments:
This case is the biggest travesty of justice this country has ever seen.
I am disgusted in a country that could allow something called an "undefended trial" to take place where one party is banned from speaking and presenting evidence to defend their case. Shame on you Canada.
I CANT BELIEVE IN OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS A PERSON TO AQUIRE EVERYTHING YOU EVER WORKED FOR BECAUSE SHE HAS SAID SHES MENTALLY ABUSED, THE FACT THE MAN IS NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK ON HIS BEHALF WHEN HE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD A LAWYER IS ABSOLUTE BULL#@&$. I NO LONGER FEEL SAFE IN CANADA I WOULD FEEL SAFER IN CUBA.....GOOD RIDDENCE CANADIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Wow... read the judgment and you'll see that the only "travesty" appears to be how long this guy was allowed to drag things out after she proved he was lying! He tried to say they were never together... who does that? Sounds like the courts finally gave up on him ever complying and just went ahead. What else could they do? Sounds like he tried the same thing with the appeals court and lost there too. Never mind how much he had to pay in court costs, how much have the taxpayers spent on this? Likely just as much! He deserved that legal bill and she deserves to be free from his abuse. Sounds like the system was slow, but did find the right balance in the end.
Travesty is when one side is not allowed to speak, or present their evidence at their own trial. It is a violation of our charter of rights and is a scar on any society who condones and allows it to take place.
Reading the judgment only confirms that this truly is a travesty.
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