Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Guy Lafleur, right, and Alexandre Bergevin, one of his attorneys leaves the courtroom for the lunch break in his lawsuit against the Montreal police and Quebec's attorney-general on Monday, January 12, 2015, in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Republished January 12, 2015 - 3:24 PM
Original Publication Date January 12, 2015 - 11:20 AM
MONTREAL - Former Canadiens superstar Guy Lafleur is seeking more than $2 million from the Crown and Montreal police in legal proceedings that began Monday.
Lafleur testified in 2007 at his son Mark's criminal case and was the subject of an arrest warrant in 2008 when the Crown deemed he had given contradictory testimony.
He was found guilty in 2009 before the conviction was overturned on appeal a year later.
Lafleur, 63, is arguing the arrest warrant was exaggerated and unjustified and that his life has been adversely affected by the criminal case against him.
His defence team asked Quebec Superior Court Justice Andre Wery on Monday to amend its case by adding a claim the Crown prosecutor omitted a crucial document that would have helped Lafleur.
"All of (Canada's) constitutional guarantees were violated," Lafleur's lawyer, Jacques Jeansonne, told the court.
During Mark Lafleur's criminal proceedings on sex charges, Guy Lafleur initially did not say that his son twice spent a weekend night in a hotel with his girlfriend.
Lafleur did mention the hotel during his second court appearance.
When confronted about the omission, Lafleur said no one had asked him about his son's hotel visits and added he didn't know a court order included a provision that he stay with his parents overnight on weekends.
Jeansonne said Monday it was only last week that he saw the court document listing the younger Lafleur's bail conditions, which he said did not include an order to stay with his parents overnight.
The Crown had the document in its possession during Guy Lafleur's trial and hid it from his defence team, Jeansonne said.
Lafleur has said the time he spent defending himself in court was a nightmare, that Montreal police mishandled the investigation and that the Crown hounded him.
Lafleur, who did not speak to reporters Monday, is expected to testify at a later date.
He had been seeking more than $3.5 million but has reduced the amount to $2.16 million.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2015