Accuser drops suit against judge

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This article was published 23/09/2010 (5565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The man who sparked the scandal that put Lori Douglas’s judicial career on the line has now dropped her from a $67-million lawsuit he launched earlier this month.

William Gilmour, lawyer for Alex Chapman, said Wednesday morning his client would be abandoning the $7-million claim against the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench judge because of a lack of “adequate evidence.”

“It’s dismissed and finished,” said Gilmour after court.

However, the judge’s lawyer husband and the couple’s former law firm aren’t home free yet. While Douglas is no longer part of the claim, Chapman is still seeking $50 million in damages from the law firm Thompson Dorfman Sweatman and $10 million from her husband Jack King.

Chapman’s legal about-face is being seen as a vindication for Douglas, who’s been at the centre of the controversy that involves racy photos of her posted on an interracial sex website.

“Obviously, it didn’t take (Gilmour) very long to hear the facts and give the advice to Mr. Chapman that he didn’t have a legal basis for issuing the claim that he’d issued against Lori Douglas,” said Michael Green, the judge’s lawyer.

“We all recognized that the lawsuit was ill-founded at the outset, and it was just a matter of going through the motions to get rid of it. Because it simply wasn’t well-founded at all in law.”

Green said after the hearing he’s sure Douglas is pleased by the end of the lawsuit.

Douglas removed herself from active duty as an associate chief justice after Chapman made public his allegation that King used lewd photos of his wife to pressure his former client into having sex with Douglas.

King has also filed a countersuit against Chapman, alleging he breached a confidentiality agreement from 2003 where Chapman received $25,000 from King and Chapman and agreed to hand over photos of Douglas, not to speak publicly about the case, and not to seek legal action.

The agreement reached Wednesday in court means that Chapman won’t be able to pursue future lawsuits against Douglas.

“What was agreed was that there would be no civil actions… I can’t speak to anything else at this time or in this context,” Gilmour told the court.

Chapman still has an outstanding complaint against Douglas for sexual harassment with the Canadian Judicial Council, while the Law Society of Manitoba is investigating King on a complaint of professional misconduct.

Another hearing for the matter is scheduled for Oct. 26.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca