A St. Albert resident is suing the mayor and city manager for $500,000 in damages, plus costs.
Resident Gord Hennigar provided a copy of his statement of claim, filed April 25 in the Court of Queen’s Bench, to the Gazette.
Hennigar had been named as a defendant in city manager Patrick Draper’s defamation suit sparked by the publication of an anonymous blog. The suit was discontinued in March.
Now Hennigar is suing both Draper and Mayor Nolan Crouse, claiming conspiracy and/or abuse of process was behind the defamation suit. He has repeatedly said he was not behind the blog and did not forward the blog to the Gazette.
He is seeking general damages of $300,000, aggravated damages of $100,000 and punitive damages of $100,000.
The statement of claim said that Hennigar has suffered damage to his personal reputation, emotional stress and financial damages due to having to defend against the defamation action.
“The Plaintiff pleads that the conduct of the Defendants in carrying out the Conspiracy and or in the alternate Abuse of Process to injure the Plaintiff, was high-handed, malicious and is deserving of an award of aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages,” says the statement of claim. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Neither Crouse nor Draper had any comment on the matter.
