From: adam@concour.cs.concordia.ca (Adam Steele)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Halt harrasment, lawyer urged Fabrikant in 1983.....
Date: 29 Aug 92 22:07:14 GMT
Organization: Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

I post the following article which appeared under the headline
above in friday's Gazette (28/8/92, p.4) because I think it sheds
some light on Dr. Fabrikant's personality.

"Valery Fabrikant, charged in Monday's fatal shooting at
Concordia University, was urged in 1983 to stop harrassing
employees of an insurance firm he was suing.
  Denis Langlois, a lawyer for the Prudential Insurance Co.,
wroteto 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 Brookly NY, insurance
broker Larry Press, acusing Press's company of not forwarding his
claim to Prudential fast enough.
  Fabrikant claimed $357 U.S. 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
claims) that you are deadly scared of an impending lawsuit,
otherwise you would not try to scare me: it is useless.'
  Fabrikant also claimed the same amount from Prudential and
wrote Mair: 'Please be advised if I'll not get a positive answer
I'll initiate a lawsuit and I'll do my best to make the hearing
as public as possible.'  Before the suit was filed, Fabrikant had 
already been paid more than $4,000 for the car accident, which was 
his fault, documents in the file show.
  When the court case came to trial, the court clerk wrote that
it had to be delayed because of Fabrikant's 'intransigent attitude.'
The professor had insisted that the prodeedings take place in
English and rebuked Hetu for speaking only French. The case was
postponed so Fabrikant could get an interpreter.  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 $1,000 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,
Tyker claimed the retail vlaue of her suitcase, as estimated by
Gucci, was between $600 and $800. She asked that the airline
replace it with one of the same size of similar leather.  The
letter goes on to say that the cheapest such suitcase she could
find made of pigskin was available at Gucci for $1,195 and a
similar one made of cow leather cost $1,300.
  A handbag company hired by the airline estimated the suitcase,
which it said was nine of 10 years old, was worth $150.  Jean
Francois Vilhemy awarded the couple $151.05 for the damage.  The
couple did not present the suitcase as evidence."

[end of quoted article]

Dr. Fabrikant also threatened many of the staff and faculty at
Concordia.  He is, in my opinion, a sorry advocate against the
injustices and shady dealings that take place in academia. We can
surely choose a better champion for reform.
     Furthermore, to explain this act by his paranoia (whether 
justified or not) is to diminish it's fundamentally evil nature.
Crazy or not, three fine people were killed in an utterly senseless 
fashion.  We should not lose sight of this fact.

Adam

--
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Adam Steele                                  "... And there is no safeword for
adam@cs.concordia.ca         (Internet)       Doctoral Students."
adam@denovo.lacage1.ntn      (Trivianet)        - Matthew Harelick on a.s.b