Union loses appeal in icy sidewalks ruling
MONTREAL • The notoriously bellicose union representing Montreal blue-collar workers has learned the hard way that calling a judge who rules against you a “f---ing idiot” is not a recipe for future courtroom success.
The Journal de Montréal reported in February that union president Chantal Racette told a meeting of members that Superior Court Justice Danielle Grenier, who had just ordered the union to pay $2 million in punitive damages for an illegal 2004 walkout that turned downtown sidewalks into skating rinks, was a “crisse de folle.” The slur is the equivalent of “f---ing idiot” in English.
At the same meeting, attended by a Journal reporter, Racette said she sometimes feels like taking a baseball bat to the forehead of the employer when he threatens to contract out work to the private sector.
The union went to court to delay payment of the damages, equal to roughly 30 per cent of its annual $7-million budget, while it seeks leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. But this week the Quebec Court of Appeal told the union to pay up immediately.
Court of Appeal Justice Marie-France Bich found that when awarding damages, Grenier was justified to take into consideration the union’s behaviour after it lost the class-action lawsuit brought by people who injured themselves on icy sidewalks.
Bich wrote that the union’s behaviour, including a failure to apologize, a subsequent illegal strike and public statements by its leaders, demonstrated “a great indifference toward respect for the law and the rights of citizens.” The attitude contributed to the reward of steep punitive damages, which are intended to have a dissuasive effect.
Lawyer Bruce Johnston, who represented the plaintiffs in the class action, said he included Racette’s “crisse de folle” comment in his motion to have the union’s appeal dismissed. He said it was the only public statement in the court record made by the union after they lost the initial case.
He said he was shocked to hear the union president insult Grenier, who actually awarded punitive damages well below the $3 million the plaintiffs had sought.
“Mme. Grenier is a highly respected judge,” he said, and this was her last case before retirement. “To go and appeal it and say she’s crazy is completely outlandish,” Johnston said.
Grenier had harsh words for the union in her ruling. The walkout, coinciding with a freezing-rain storm, meant that sidewalks received no salt or abrasives. The judge called the union actions “reprehensible” and accused its members of holding the population hostage for more than a week.
The class action was brought by 49 victims who suffered varying degrees of injury. Johnston said the compensatory damages awarded at an earlier stage of the proceedings range from a low of $1,000 to a high of $436,000.
The most serious case was a woman who slipped and broke her knee. She required seven surgeries, is permanently disabled and still experiences constant pain nearly 12 years after the accident.
She has had trouble keeping a job and fell into a depression, the adjudicator who awarded her damages heard.
The $2 million in punitive damages — minus 30 per cent to pay lawyers’ fees — will be split evenly among the 49 plaintiffs. Johnston said the union has advised him it will pay promptly.
A union spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.