Sault Ste. Marie Police Service is attempting to have a lawsuit alleging its members conspired to stalk and harass a local criminal defence lawyer thrown out of court.
Legal counsel Orlando Rosa told Ontario Superior Court Thursday that both he and the police service have taken the position that the claim, launched by former provincial election candidate Naomi Sayers, is “vexatious and frivolous.”
Rosa has submitted an application with the courts in order to have the lawsuit dismissed.
The allegations against Sault Ste. Marie Police Service and the other defendants named in Sayers’ statement of claim have not been proven in court.
Sayers told SooToday earlier this month that she began making detailed notes regarding police cruisers following her beginning in mid-December of last year.
The lawyer alleges there were more than 50 sightings of Sault Ste. Marie Police Service vehicles between December 2022 and January 2023, and says she has digital evidence to back up those claims.
“Sayers pleads that officers are communicating to each other about Sayers and are invading her privacy, breaching confidence, abusing their power, and conspiring to injure Sayers to the point of humiliation or alternatively, intentionally inflict harm upon Sayers,” said the statement of claim.
Justice Michael Varpio adjourned the court case Thursday in hopes of having a judge from outside of Sault Ste. Marie steer the legal proceedings going forward.
“I want everything in front of an out-of-town judge. Dead simple,” he told the court.
The next court date is scheduled for April 27.
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