Paul Delean
Montreal Gazette
November 3, 2014
November 3, 2014
Judge Henri Richard called Jean-Marc Paquin’s defence “ill-founded in all ways” and declared Bank of Nova Scotia the sole owner of the vehicle, a 2008 model. He also ordered Paquin to pay the bank legal costs of $16,685 and damages of $10,000.
Paquin, a proponent of the Freemen On The Land movement that rejects political and judicial authority, bought the vehicle in 2011 and agreed to pay $1,166 a month. He stopped making payments after seven months, informing the bank by letter that its “promissory note” was invalid.
The car was seized in February 2014, after which Paquin requested $1.4 million from the bank for unlawful confiscation. He maintained in court that private property was protected under the U.S. and Canadian constitutions and the bank had trespassed against his property.
In his ruling, Judge Richard called Paquin’s legal manoeuvres abusive and his arguments “frivolous.”
The growing abuse of the legal system and of the rights of contracting parties by Freemen followers “must be denounced and eradicated,” Judge Richard said, adding that the ideology is disconnected from “earthly reality and the rules of law of our society.”
