A motorist who hit a teacher while forcing a picket line, in 2021 in Sherbrooke, decided to sue the person who called 911 to report the situation for $15,000.
He was very bad about it: in addition to rejecting the lawsuit, the courts have just ordered Gaétan Laguë to compensate the victim’s colleague who was only doing “his duty” by calling for help. Coincidentally, the decision was made on the eve of strike days in public services.
Mr. Laguë blamed Mathieu Cayer for having alerted the authorities, leading to his arrest and the filing of criminal charges against him. The Sherbrooke resident was, however, acquitted, the courts doubting his “guilty intention”.
But despite this acquittal, the civil action initiated against Mr. Cayer was abusive, ruled the Court of Quebec, by ordering its instigator to pay him $2,000.
Blaming Mr. Cayer for his setbacks for his call to 911 is objectively incomprehensible and unreasonable.
Judge Sophie Lapierre
“Responsibility for the police arrest, the criminal charges, the trial and the impact on Mr. Laguë’s personal life is not the result of the 911 call nor of a conspiracy of which he is allegedly responsible. instrument, but rather of the incident which injured Mme Arpin”, the professor hit by Mr. Laguë’s car, continued the judge.
Shock and pain
The facts date back to April 14, 2021. Gaétan Laguë is going to drive his child back to Triolet Secondary School, in Sherbrooke.
“That morning, teachers demonstrated as part of a labor dispute,” says judge Sophie Lapierre. Insisting on crossing the picket line, Mr. Laguë hits and injures a teacher with his car. He turns back, drops his son off a little further away and leaves the area. » The teacher “is in a state of shock and suffers from pain in her knees”.
Mathieu Cayer, professor and union representative, took part in the picket line, but was not a direct witness to the collision. He is informed, goes to meet his colleague and decides to call 911.
By acting in this way, the teacher “provides assistance, like any reasonably prudent and diligent person, by ensuring that a call is made to 911,” assessed Judge Sophie Lapierre.
“Mr. Laguë’s appeal and his choice to continue it until the hearing constitutes the abusive exercise of a legal recourse. He acted rashly. Her appeal is clearly ill-founded and doomed to failure, she continued. Mr. Laguë must be ordered to pay compensation for damages to Mr. Cayer. »
“Several sleepless nights, stress”
In interview with The Press, this week, Gaétan Laguë continued to blame Mr. Cayer for many of the “frustrations and anguish that[il a] had and that [sa] family has lived.”
“I want to move on, because I spent too much energy and a lot of money on certain people and they get away with absolutely no consequences,” he said. I deplore everything that happened on the criminal side, on the police side, on the DPCP side. There was no one who wanted to help me. »
Mr. Laguë affirmed that he nevertheless intended to respect the small claims judgment: “I have until November 2, I will pay it. »
Mathieu Cayer, for his part, said he was “satisfied” with the decision.
“It was very long. Several sleepless nights, stress, many, many hours finding out information and trying to understand, he explained on the phone. Throughout the process, I had difficulty understanding how one could lay charges against the person who called 911.”
“There, at least, it’s over. We put this behind us,” he added.
Richard Bergevin, president of the Estrie Education Union, reported that the teacher hit by Mr. Laguë had to receive treatment for several months to heal her legs.
“Today she is doing well,” reported the trade unionist.
Mathieu Cayer “simply demonstrated good civic judgment,” he added, welcoming the small claims decision.