A Court of Queen’s Bench justice has ruled against a St. Albert man who tried to sue an RCMP officer and two prosecutors for trespassing.
Justice J.D. Rooke recently issued a written ruling, following an oral decision he gave against Adam Gauthier on March 31.
The ruling reads as a stinging rebuke of not just Gauthier, but of all so-called Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments, which are considered “vexatious litigation strategies.”
“These concepts purport to give individuals special, extralegal status and immunities thanks to hidden or concealed secret alternative laws,” Rooke wrote in his decision.
Those using these strategies are also often referred to as “freemen-on-the-land.” One example of this is Gauthier’s attempt to refer to himself as “a man, Adam,” rather than by his full name, a common pseudolegal tactic used.
In this particular case, Gauthier sought a decision against an RCMP officer, a Crown prosecutor and a provincial prosecutor. He accused them of trespassing on his property – in this case, the police officer for arresting him and the prosecutors apparently for handling legal documents he filed with the court.
Rooke notes Gauthier is “no innocent babe in these woods,” having been involved with several other OPCA litigations that resulted in similar decisions against him. One relates to the foreclosure of his house in which he argued the mortgage contract was not legally binding, and another relates to a Saskatchewan man convicted of trafficking marijuana. Judges had little patience for pseudolegal arguments in those cases, either.
“Gauthier has now been warned and warned and warned again,” Rooke wrote. “He has been pointed to the correct law, but has preferred ‘Youtube videos of men scribbling on whiteboards.’”
At one point during the most recent proceedings, Rooke discovered Gauthier was filming the proceedings and ordered him to turn the camera off. When he refused, Rooke found him in contempt of court and had him removed.
Ultimately Rooke found in favour of the defendants, ordering Gauthier to pay $500 each to Alberta Justice and the federal Department of Justice, and prohibited him from making further claims against the named defendants until that money’s paid.
Rooke also ordered that Gauthier must identify himself by his full legal name on any further court documents he files, and has prohibited Gauthier from acting in any litigation or filing any documents for which he is not a named party in the action in question.
He also noted some OPCA candidates learn the error of their ways and ultimately adopt the proper court processes, but said he doubted Gauthier would follow that path.
“He prefers his own special, magic law, which apparently he gets to make up and define all by himself,” he wrote.
