Grenville-sur-la-Rouge municipal councilor Marc-André Le Gris is declared a vexatious litigant
May 18 2018 - 11:18AM
Marc-André Le Gris, municipal councilor and president of the legal
and regulatory affairs, urbanism, human resources, and
communications committees of the municipality of
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (“GSLR”), has just been declared a vexatious
litigant by the Quebec Superior Court.1 A vexatious litigant is a
person who uses the courts in an excessive and unreasonable manner,
and who shows the following traits, as described in paragraph 71 of
the judgment:
- He demonstrates stubbornness and narcissism.
- He more often appears as a plaintiff than as a defendant.
- The legal arguments put forward are distinguished by both
creativity and incongruity. They are legal in form, but at the
limit of the rational.
- Most if not all adverse decisions are appealed, or are the
object of requests for review or retraction.
- He represents himself.
In his judgment, the Honorable Daniel W. Payette
compiles a partial history of the 28 proceedings launched by
Marc-André Le Gris since 2004, including the application of March
17, 2017 for leave to appeal a judicial review judgment and for a
mandatory injunction. The object of this procedure by Le Gris was
to render zoning by-law RU-902-01 2015 null, and to prevent use and
extractive activities in agro forestry zones. Mr. Le Gris’
principal objective with this procedure was to change the municipal
regulations so as to block Canada Carbon’s project. Judge Payette
writes:
“This overview, even partial, of the judicial remedies sought by
Le Gris demonstrates abusive use of judicial resources. He
excessively consumes them to the detriment of other cases subject
to the courts’ jurisdiction and the parties involved in them.”
(Paragraph 111)
Further on, the Honorable Daniel Payette
adds:
“[…] a declaration of vexatiousness does not depend solely on a
knowingly malicious and arrogant use of the judicial system.
Abusive, excessive, and repeated utilization of judicial resources
suffices; and this is the kind of use Le Gris makes of the judicial
system.” (Paragraph 113)
“He demonstrates stubbornness in continuing his actions by a
multiplicity of inventive procedures and managerial requests, while
not respecting settled legal contracts. When, in light of a
particularly unreasonable request, his case gets more difficult, he
drops it. But, by this time, the damage is already done.”
(Paragraph 114)
“He transforms every conflict, however minor, into complex
litigation, ignoring the fact that judicial resources are limited.”
(Paragraph 115)
The Honorable Daniel Payette also considers that
Mr. Le Gris uses the courts for political and personal ends. He
writes:
“Le Gris abuses judicial resources for a particularly
reprehensible end, namely to attack a political adversary and
attempt to reduce him to silence” (Paragraph 127)
“He exploits the courts in the political struggle that he
carries out in the municipality.” (Paragraph 117)
In reaction to the judgment, R. Bruce Duncan,
Executive Chairman and CEO of Canada Carbon Inc., said: “Since the
beginning of the dispute between Canada Carbon and the newly
elected representatives of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, we have been
saying that the behavior of municipal councilors, and particularly
of Mr. Le Gris, has been misleading, abusive and
inappropriate. It is important to remember that Mr. Le Gris
is not just a municipal councilor. He holds several key positions
as president of the legal and regulatory affairs, urbanism, human
resources, and communications committees of the municipality of
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. It should also be noted that even prior to
being elected, Mr. Le Gris has been a key member of the S.O.S. GSLR
committee, which is opposed to our project. Finally, Mr. Le Gris is
an administrator responsible for ‘moderating’ discussions on the
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge News Facebook page which include
discussions concerning the Miller project.”
The judgment rendered on May 14, 2018 by the
Honorable Daniel W. Payette has, notably, the following
effects:
- It declares Mr. Le Gris to be a vexatious litigant.
- It sets up a mechanism whereby he is prohibited from launching
any legal proceedings against the municipality of
Grenville-sur-la-Rouge or of any of its elected officials or
officers, past, present, or future, without prior authorization
from the Court’s Chief Justice.
- It obliges Le Gris to pay former mayor John Saywell the sum of
$1,000 in damages and interest and $2,500 in punitive damages.
- It orders the provisional enforcement, notwithstanding appeal,
of paragraphs 135 and 138 to 141 of the judgment (in case Mr. Le
Gris should decide to appeal the judgment).
In conclusion, the Honorable Daniel Payette
wrote, in paragraph 117 of the judgment, that Mr. Le Gris, in the
context of numerous judicial proceedings undertaken, “misused the
courts in his political struggle within the municipality.” Mr.
Duncan says that, “it is disappointing to note that Mr. Le Gris
continues to act in the same way he acted prior to becoming a
councilor. Despite launching case number 700-17-014036-171 and
losing his attempt to challenge by-laws to block the Canada Carbon
project in early 2017, within months of becoming councilor, the
GSLR council sent CPTAQ a resolution falsely claiming that the
project is not compliant with municipal by-laws.”
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Olga
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Pierre Bouchard |
Canada
Carbon |
INDICO
Communications |
416-575-1667 |
514-951-7516 |
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1 Cour supérieure – District de Terrebonne ; no. :
700-17-013501-167, May 14, 2018 ; Marc-André Le Gris
(plaintiff) v. John Saywell (defendant)
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