A 77-year-old man who turned to small claims court to recover some of the $20,000 he loaned to a former escort in exchange for sexual services will never see the color of his money again, in cash or form of benefits in kind.
Published at 1:54 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
What there is to know
The Small Claims Court heard a case in November involving a series of loans totaling more than $20,000 between a man and a former escort whose services he used.
One of the contract clauses provided for in-kind reimbursement of $200 per appointment.
The small claims court just dismissed the man's lawsuit but refused to rule specifically on the sexual favors provided for in the contract.
“This appeal takes place in a relationship context full of suffering and sadness,” emphasized Judge Sophie Lapierre in her 17-page decision rejecting the man’s lawsuit.
In November, the latter, a regular customer of the sex worker for more than two years, went to court to recover $15,000 (the maximum limit in small claims court) of the $20,000 he had lent the woman to help her out of her situation .
The escort, then working under the name “Leonie,” signed formal contracts agreeing to reimburse the man $487 a month. Given his inability to pay his debts, a “dream night clause” was eventually added to the contract, requiring the man to deduct $200 from the debt for each intimate encounter of a sexual nature with the woman.
“Leonie” argued in court that this appendix rendered the contract “absolutely void” because it included advance payments for sexual services that were criminal in nature and contrary to public order.
“His goal was to see her again,” the judge said
Judge Lapierre found it “pointless” to determine whether the loans “granted in return for sexual favors” were “contrary to public policy” since the man voluntarily released the escort “completely from her debts” by signing a release. have for him a few months before the trial.
The man said he signed the receipt under duress out of fear that the accompanying person would commit suicide if he did not pay the debt. He said he was the victim of “financial and psychological abuse” at the hands of an escort friend who told him about “Léonie’s” suicide threats.
The judge didn't believe it and, based on numerous text exchanges, estimated that the man had acted this way because he was afraid of “losing the friendship” of the companion after she expressed her desire to cut ties with him completely.
Shortly before he signed the release, he threatened to sue her by sending her a formal notice. “His goal was to see her again, to provoke her reaction in order to force her to meet him,” the judge concluded, dismissing the charges.
The ruling comes months after Nova Scotia's small claims court ordered a man to pay a sex worker $1,800 for sexual services he had not paid for. This decision is considered a first in the Canadian justice system.