Former addict tries to sue Quebec man who was NYC's `king of pot'
Judge dismisses motion as `too speculative'
A recovered drug addict in New York has been trying to sue a flamboyant Quebec man, dubbed the “King of Pot” for flooding the U.S. with a billion dollars worth of Canadian marijuana, claiming she became hopelessly addicted because of his business.
Jimmy Cournoyer, now 41, remains in a U.S. prison, serving a 27-year sentence ordered in 2014 after being declared the “biggest pot dealer in New York City history.”
More recently, he has been fending off Consuelo Barbetta, who was seeking $5 million in damages from him for her 18 years of substance abuse.
“I did not spend a minute sober” for four years at her peak of drug use, she complained to a New York judge.
“It would be relevant for Cournoyer to be held fully accountable for his contribution, as any other responsible party should also be,” Barbetta said.
“Both me, and Cournoyer, were between New York and California during the time my addiction was at its worst and his business was at its best,” she wrote in her lawsuit.
The main problem with her lawsuit, a New York judge told her this summer, is that she hadn't provided evidence she had any contact with Cournoyer or even “knows anything about him except what she read of his conviction in the newspaper.”
Self-represented, she was given leeway to amend her claim. Her amendment fared no better. Her motion was dismissed by Judge Brian Cogan, the same judge who oversaw the massive 2019 trial against Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Barbetta “is merely guessing that defendant may have had a hand in her illegal drug purchases,” Cogan wrote in his decision.
Her claim was made under the Drug Dealer Liability Act, which allows consumers to seek civil damages against those selling illegal substances, just as those injured by faulty products can sue manufacturers.
She sought to hold Cournoyer accountable for his years moving cannabis from Canada into the United States.
“I was addicted to marijuana for almost 20 years, having smoked 20 pounds of marijuana before my first attempt at sobriety in 2008,” she told court.
Her drug use “consumed all my time and affected my productivity. Heavy smoking consequently affected my physical health and saturated my expenses. Equating to over a million-dollar excursion, all my money was wasted on drugs.”
She started smoking pot in 2000, “smoked compulsively” and was “unable to stop” from 2004 to 2008, when she first tried to quit. At her peak, she spent $70,000 a year on cannabis.
“I smoked so much my lungs hurt, my tongue burnt, my lips and fingers yellowed,” she said. She drove from dealer to dealer buying small amounts smoking as she drove, each time telling herself this was her last time — but she kept driving and kept buying. She was “driving until my hips and knees cramped, and my hand calloused from gripping the wheel.”
“Every penny I earned was spent on buying weed,” she said.
Her addiction ruined her dreams of becoming a dancer, which she had spent years training for, and forced her to abandon a graduate degree. She finally managed to quit, she said, and was two years clean when filing her suits last year.
“First and foremost, my predominant concerns about Jimmy Cournoyer is the magnitude of his contribution to drug trafficking within the country, and within this state,” she wrote.
Police started investigating Cournoyer's massive importation ring at the “same time my addiction was at its worst, and lasted through its dissipation, which persisted until sometime after his arrest.”
She blames Cournoyer for bringing pot into her community, and others: “Don't even get me started on the Hells Angels,” she wrote.
While Cogan showed sympathy for her circumstances, he dismissed her suit for being “too speculative to support a plausible claim.”
EVERY PENNY I EARNED WAS SPENT ON BUYING WEED.
“She simply assumed that since defendant was a substantial drug dealer and she bought a lot of drugs, she must have, at some time, purchased some of the drugs that he distributed.”
U.S. prosecutors said Cournoyer was a masterful drug baron who went from growing a little marijuana in his Laval, Que., apartment as a teenager to running a “massive international drug consortium.”
Before his arrest, he lived a playboy lifestyle, driving exotic sports cars, entertaining friends at an island resort and partying with celebrities and his international model girlfriend.