From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Montreal news of Fabricant 2
Date: 29 Aug 92 00:54:22 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: On the Brew.

From the Montreal Gazette, Friday August 28.  Reprinted without permission:
 
Halt harassment, lawyer urged Fabricant in 1983
 
Professor was embroiled in lawsuit with insurance firm
 
CATHERINE BUCKIE
THE GAZETTE
 
Valery Fabricant, charged in Monday's fatal shooting at Concordia
University, was urged in 1983 to stop harassing employees of an insurance
firm he was suing.
 
Denis Langlois, a lawyer for the prudential Insurance Co., wrote to the
professor in May 1983, asking him to cease harassing company staff,
including president Ian Mair.
 
The letter also said: "After a review of this file, I am of the opinion that
Prudential has done everything in its power to give you satisfaction, a task
which seems impossible."
 
The lawsuit arose from a car accident Fabrikant had in New York in July
1982.  On Aug. 12, he wrote to Brooklyn, NY, insurance broker Larry Press,
accusing Press's company of not forwarding his claim to Prudential fast
enough.
 
Fabrikant claimed $357 US from Press's company for the cost of a car rental
and gas he used while awaiting an insurance cheque before getting his car
repaired.
 
In the letter to Press, Fabrikant said: "I understand from the letter
addressed to Mr. (Gilles) Hetu (the Prudential agent responsible for
Fabrikant's claim) that you are deadly scared of the impending lawsuit,
otherwise you would not try to scare me: it is useless."
 
Fabrikant also claimed the same amount from the Prudential and wrote Mair:
"Please be advised if I'll not [sic] get a positive answer I'll initiate a
lawsuit and I'll do my best to make the hearings as public as possible."
 
Before the suit was files, Fabrikant had already been paid more than $4000
for the car accident, which was his fault, documents in the file show.
 
When the case came to trial, the court clerk wrote that it had to be delayed
because of Fabrikant's "intransigent, arrogant attitude."
 
The professor had insisted the proceddings take place in English and rebuked
Hetu for speaking only French.  The case was postponed so Fabrikant could
get an interpreter. [I believe this was his right - RDD]  He was eventually
awarded $120 on a claim of more than $800.
 
Fabrikant's wife, Maya Tyker, was also involved in a suit against Royal Air
Maroc over a damaged suitcase.
 
The couple claimed $1000 from the airline for damage to a pigskin suitcase. 
The airline had already had the suitcase repaired at its own expense, but
the couple claimed the repairs were unacceptable.
 
In a Jan. 28, 1988 letter to airline representative A. Lazreq, Tyler claimed
the retail value of her suitcase, as estimated by Gucci, was between $600
and $800.  She asked that the airline replace it with one the same size of
similar leather.
 
The letter goes on to say the cheapest such suitcase she could find made of
pigskin was available at Gucci for $1190 and a similar one made of cow
leather cost $1300.
 
A handbag company hired by the airline to estimate the suitcase, which it
said was 9 or 10 years old, was worth $150.
 
Judge Francois Wilhelmy awarded the couple $151.05 for the damage.  The
couple did not present the suitcase as evidence.
 
-- 
Ray Dunn at home    |    ray@philmtl.philips.ca    |    (514) 630 3749