Jérémy Gabriel and his mother are still suing Mike Ward

(Montreal) Jérémy Gabriel and his mother resume the legal fight against Mike Ward.

They both filed separate lawsuits against the comedian totaling $372,600.

Jérémy Gabriel thus filed a motion to institute proceedings in the Superior Court, claiming $288,000 in damages from Mike Ward. Sylvie Gabriel, for her part, filed a similar motion in the Court of Quebec, civil division, for the sum of $84,600.

The lawsuits allege that both Jeremy and his mother suffered significant harm as a result of the comedy number in which Mike Ward made fun of the child with Treacher Collins syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by deformities of the skull and face. Jérémy Gabriel, then a teenager, was studying in secondary school.

The wrong court

Last October, Mike Ward won his case in the Supreme Court, the highest court ruling that the comments of the comedian did not meet the criterion of discrimination invoked. While acknowledging that Mike Ward’s remarks were hardly edifying, the judgment argued that discrimination within the meaning of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms could not be invoked to obtain compensation in a defamation case.

In other words, the Supreme Court was ruling that the wrong court had been appealed to. The decision, however, had been a difficult one, with four out of nine justices dissenting.

Jérémy Gabriel and his mother therefore decided to resume their cause, this time using civil remedies.

Damage

In both cases, the plaintiffs believe that Mike Ward knowingly attacked them “with the intent to harm” and sought “to ridicule them, humiliate them, expose them to the hatred or contempt of his public. “, personal attacks which, according to them, “are in no way justifiable in the context of a show”.

They affirm, just as they had done in the previous process, that Mike Ward’s words led Jérémy to no longer want to go out, sing or even exist for two years. They add that at school, the other students repeated the comedian’s jokes and repeatedly insulted him to the point where the teenager developed suicidal thoughts.

Jérémy Gabriel still claims to suffer the psychological consequences of these remarks, adding that they have harmed his career and the development of his talent.

For her part, Sylvie Gabriel claims to have been “devastated by the words of Mr. Ward” and that the latter “came to break everything she built with her son”. She claims to suffer from insomnia, to have “lost faith in people” and says she has been taking antidepressants since 2012.

She also says she was affected by the comedian’s insinuations “according to which she took advantage of her son” and that people around her “made her feel that she had exploited her son, when he was not is nothing”. She points out that she “has no chalet or sports car, contrary to what Mr. Ward lets know”.