When Criminals Sue Their Victims

"Our view is that effectively we meet the four corners of Bill 27. [The bill] effectively means that there can be no claim, so the fact that they're putting Eddie through the ringer ... is a bit offensive, frankly."
Scott Chimuk, lawyer, Edouard Maurice, Okotoks, Alberta

"As ... Watson was fleeing, without warning, [Maurice] attempted to scare [Watson] by shooting a 22-calibre rifle in his direction, but negligently hit the plaintiff in the right forearm."
"[The injury to his right forearm resulted in] severe damages and liability."
Lawsuit, statement of claim

"Mr. Maurice suffered from mental distress, anxiety, nightmares and a fear of repetition."
"Given that he lives in a rural community, he continues to worry for the safety of his wife and two infant daughters."
"Mr. Maurice seeks: an order that Mr. Maurice is entitled to an award of punitive damages as against the criminally convicted trespasser is such an amount as may be determined at trial."
Countersuit

A young boy and girl play with homemade stocks as people gather in support of Edouard Maurice, who faced three charges after police allege the rural homeowner confronted two people rummaging through his vehicles and shots were fired, outside court in Okotoks, Alta., Friday, March 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Back in June of 2018 criminal charges brought by police against Edouard Maurice for discharging a firearm at an intruder were dropped. Living in rural Alberta which has been plagued by rural crime of property thefts, Mr. Maurice doesn't lack for community support. Property owners are seized with concern that, should they attempt to defend themselves, their families and their properties, police will intervene to arrest them -- the property owner and victim -- not the intruder who is clearly a criminal focused on theft.

It is such an endemic problem that the United Conservative government introduced Bill 27 in November, now law since December 5. A law geared to make it more difficult for trespassers to sue property owners for injuries received when a property owner confronts a would-be robber to defend his property. The landowner must not commit a crime and the trespasser must show the landowner's response was wilfully and grossly disproportionate, under the new law.

Mr. Maurice had been criminally charged with firearm offences in 2018, relating to his having fired warning shots at intruders on his property where he operates a pet resort. Now the man who had clearly been illegally on his property and seen to be in the act of rifling through his parked truck, subsequently hit with a ricochet bullet when Mr. Maurice fired several shots to frighten the two intruders off, has brought a lawsuit against him. And Mr. Maurice's lawyer is attempting to use the new law to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Earlier this year, Watson was sentenced to 45 days in prison, given release in recognition of time spent in custody before trail, when he had pleaded guilty to mischief and breaching probation. In his suit against Maurice he seeks damages for pain and suffering and for lost employment opportunities. A FundRazr campaign was initiated to raise funds for Maurice to help him pay his legal bills. A fund to which the province's premier made his own personal contribution.

Jessica Maurice, Edouard Maurice and one of their children  E.Maurice

Watson claims the injury he suffered as a result of a bullet ricocheting and hitting his arm left him with "severe damages and liability", and is suing Maurice for $100,000. One of two intruders that dark night in November of 2018, neither Watson nor his companion heeded Maurice's call to get away from his truck and leave his property. They simply continued rummaging through the truck, leading Maurice to decide an overhead warning shot might do the trick.

It did. They left, but not before Watson suffered the penalty, however accidental, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.