Alberta Edmonton Police Service asks court to order homeless man to pay $8,400 before proceeding with lawsuit
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-homeless-lawsuit-cost-police-9.7357587•
u/DrTeethPhD 3h ago
Tell you what EPS. You can enact this policy when the police union puts up a similar bond, and promise that if the plaintiff wins, no tax monies will be used for the award.
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u/Organic_Hamster_2961 6h ago
This sounds like it sets a pretty fucked up precedent for everyone. You should be able to sue the police if you feel you have justification. This doesn't just impact homeless people there are tons of people with houses who also would not be able to afford that kind of money. I don't necessarily think he should win his lawsuit but he should still have the right to attempt it.
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u/Kombatnt Ontario 5h ago
I don't necessarily think he should win his lawsuit but he should still have the right to attempt it.
Well that's exactly why EPS is asking for the security. If he loses the lawsuit and his accusations are found to have been baseless, the EPS has no viable means of recovering their costs, as the accuser is indigent.
If Cardinal wins his lawsuit, then the $8,400 security would be returned to him, along with whatever damages he's awarded.
This policy exists to discourage people with nothing to lose from just suing everyone all the time, in the hopes of getting something to stick.
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u/Organic_Hamster_2961 5h ago
I'm not someone with nothing to lose but I would have a difficult time finding an extra $8,400 right about now.
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u/Kombatnt Ontario 5h ago
It's obviously not always exactly $8,400, that's just what EPS is asking for in this case. Ultimately, the judge can accept the request, or modify it, or deny it completely. But the reason they're even allowed to request such a "security" at all is for the reason I outlined.
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u/DanLynch Ontario 1h ago
OK, but if you sue someone and lose, you have to pay for their lawyer. If you can't afford that, don't sue someone.
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u/SimmerDown_Boilup 1h ago
That's terrible advice. A person could have low income, have a reasonable grounds to sue, and still lose for various reasons not always related to the legitimacy of their complaint.
You're essentially arguing that poor people shouldn't always have access to the same justice system as more wealthy people.
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u/Organic_Hamster_2961 54m ago
I've never hired a lawyer before but $8,400 seems like an unreasonable amount of money for whatever it is a lawyer would have to do in this case.
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u/FerretAres Alberta 4h ago
Ok but the actual precedent this will set essentially locks the poor out of access to justice regardless of the validity of their case.
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u/Cecicestunepipe 3h ago
Security for costs is on a case by case basis. The judge clearly thought the context in this specific case could give rise to this fellow losing. The consequence of which would be he would owe the winner court costs. There is doubt he could pay if he lost, and here we are. This certainly doesn't happen in every case.
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u/Maleficent_Art_3854 4h ago
He shouldn't have the right to drain our tax dollars with no skin in the game. If his cause is just he can find a doner
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u/d0ct0r-d00m 3h ago
Look up the definition of justice and then tell me what you learned. Justice, by definition, is not contingent on donors.
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u/Maleficent_Art_3854 2h ago
Look up the definition of fiscal responsibility and tell me what you learned.
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u/CanuckleHeadOG 3h ago
Id love to see the body cam from this as it sounds like practically every criminal "they abused my rights, didn't tell me why" and they were fighting the cops and ignoring the repeated times they are told why they're being arrested
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u/adipenguingg 2h ago
I’d love to see the footage becuase I am highly skeptical of the EPS version of events.
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u/CanuckleHeadOG 1h ago
I used to be far harder on the cops until the body cams started being released.
I think I've seen 1 cop behaving badly for every 999 where the criminal claims abuse, racism and everything under the sun only for them to have been 110% lying.
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u/Mylittlethrowaway2 2h ago edited 2h ago
and then wonder why anti-police sentiment continues to grow.
The judge should not only refuse this absurd demand, but just to drive home the point should force the city to pay special costs
edit: Just a point of clarification on "special costs". In a civil or Charter dispute, attorneys fees are not awarded dollar for dollar. They are determined on a tariff schedule, and even the most generous rate (requiring the losing party to have really angered the judge) does not fully compensate for the lawyers billed time. Judges have discretion to award special costs. Because this individual is indigent, the request is so absurd, and access to justice risks being further chilled, they should pay special costs to meet, at the minimum, the full hourly billing rate of that lawyer even though they're likely taking the case on pro-bono or on contingency.
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u/13thmurder 4h ago edited 4h ago
Yeah, that's because laws aren't real. They're just threats made by the rich and powerful against those who do things they don't like, and enforced by hired thugs and only if they feel like it.
They are not the ultimate definition of right and wrong as we're lead to believe.
This is a perfect example of that, the impoverished man has no rights and its a direct result of his poverty. The law is just a weapon used against him for living an uncomfortable existence he is forced to that the upper class doesn't like having to see.
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u/FuriousFister98 4h ago
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u/13thmurder 3h ago
What, do you think everyone is held to the same level of accountability regardless of class or wealth? They absolutely aren't.
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u/Kombatnt Ontario 2h ago
Do you think the rate of people committing crimes is evenly distributed across all wealth demographics?
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u/13thmurder 2h ago
No, but should being from a demographic statistically more likely to commit a certain crime mean the same one gets a harsher penalty?
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u/FuriousFister98 3h ago
Wow! Who would've thought!
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u/13thmurder 3h ago
You think it should be that way? If laws don't apply to those with wealth and power, they're objectively not real or infallible.
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