Vote night shooting victim sues for compensation
Victim claims he suffers from chronic pain, PTSD as result of 2012 incident
The technician who was wounded outside the Metropolis on the night of the last provincial election is suing the province and the nightclub for $295,000 in compensation for physical pain, psychological suffering, loss of income and medical costs.
Dave Courage, the technician who was wounded outside the Metropolis in downtown Montreal on the night of the last provincial election, is suing the Quebec government and the nightclub for $295,000.
Courage, 28, was standing outside the club where the Parti Québécois was holding its victory party on the night of Sept. 4, 2012, when he was struck by the same bullet that killed his colleague, technician Denis Blanchette.
Richard Henry Bain, 63, faces 16 charges related to the incident, including the killing of Blanchette and the attempted murders of Courage and 11 other people.
Lawyers for Courage filed a motion of introductory suit in Quebec Superior Court Tuesday against the government of Quebec and L’Équipe Spectra Inc. (the company that owns Metropolis). Courage and his mother Yvonne Courage, who is a co-appellant in the suit, are asking for $100,000 in compensation for physical pain and psychological suffering, $120,000 for loss of income and $75,000 for medical costs.
Courage was shot in the right buttock with a bullet from an AK-47 rifle. The bullet tore his rectum, shattered his tailbone and he suffered intestinal damage. He had to use a colostomy bag for four months, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain.
Courage and his mother hold the government and the owners of the Metropolis responsible for not taking necessary and appropriate security measures to keep an armed man away from the event.
Courage, a father of three, moved out of Montreal to live in Granby a few months after the shooting, partly to get away from the sirens and loud noises of the city that trigger his PTSD, he said. He then moved to Îles-de-la-Mad- eleine, where he has relatives. His mental health issues and chronic physical pain prevent him from returning to work, according to the suit, and his relationship with the mother of his children has suffered.
Yvonne Courage said she has been taking care of her son as well as she can since the incident, but it has not been easy. Originally from Îles-de-la-Madeleine, she has been living in Florida for the past 22 years, but has had to return to Quebec often since the incident. Courage has difficulty walking and cannot live on his own, she said. His older brother has moved to Îles-de-la-Madeleine to help take care of Courage and one of his sons. His other children remain in Montreal with their mother, Yvonne Courage said.
“I just want Dave to be able to get past this,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Florida. “I will do anything for my son.”
The defendants have ten days to say whether they are contesting the suit, and if so they are to appear in court in Montreal on May 12.