A judge has tossed a lawsuit over the City of Edmonton’s COVID-19 mask bylaw, calling it an “abuse” of the court process.
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In August, Edmonton resident Glenn Miller filed a $565-million lawsuit against the city in an effort to overturn its mandatory face mask bylaw. Miller’s statement of claim made a variety of unsupported allegations, including that COVID-19 is a “hoax” and that Edmonton is acting as a “puppet” of “various world agencies.”
He later admitted he claimed the staggering sum to get the city’s attention, rather than to address any specific damages.
Court of Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice Kenneth Nielsen terminated the lawsuit Wednesday and left open the door for the City of Edmonton to apply to have Miller deemed a vexatious litigant.
“Mr. Miller sought a disproportionate or impossible remedy,” Neilsen wrote.
“His $565-million claim has no basis in law. Even if I were to accept Mr. Miller now indicating he never sought to obtain that amount, and that aspect of his lawsuit was ‘an attention-getting tactic,’ then Mr. Miller’s lawsuit was litigation for an improper purpose, and an abuse of the court.”
City council passed a bylaw this summer requiring face coverings in all publicly accessible indoor spaces including stores, restaurants and transit facilities. The bylaw was renewed in November and will be in place until the end of 2021 .
Miller filed his statement of claim on Aug. 24, alleging the mask bylaw created a “nuisance” and that the “real health crisis” is “the accumulation in litter caused by the discarding of unsanitary used face masks” in public places.
A clerk flagged the lawsuit as “apparently vexatious” and referred it to Neilsen, the Edmonton judge charged with screening potentially abusive court filings.
In response to a series of questions from Neilsen, Miller, who was not represented by a lawyer, claimed the mask bylaw violated his Charter protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
He went on to call the bylaw a “wanton act of nonsense, depravity, and illegal abuse,” and said “we may very well see another mandatory bylaw enacted by Edmonton council stating that all Jews must wear yellow stars.”
The City of Edmonton replied that Miller’s filing was “frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of process” and asked it be struck.
Neilsen agreed, adding that “Mr. Miller does not deny that he is litigating not for himself but for a broader social purpose.”
“He is candid about the reason for his lawsuit: he is a self-declared community advocate who sued to alter policy decisions by political actors. That is a further reason why Mr. Miller’s lawsuit against Edmonton is an abuse of the court.”
He later admitted he claimed the staggering sum to get the city’s attention, rather than to address any specific damages.
Court of Queen’s Bench Associate Chief Justice Kenneth Nielsen terminated the lawsuit Wednesday and left open the door for the City of Edmonton to apply to have Miller deemed a vexatious litigant.
“Mr. Miller sought a disproportionate or impossible remedy,” Neilsen wrote.
“His $565-million claim has no basis in law. Even if I were to accept Mr. Miller now indicating he never sought to obtain that amount, and that aspect of his lawsuit was ‘an attention-getting tactic,’ then Mr. Miller’s lawsuit was litigation for an improper purpose, and an abuse of the court.”
City council passed a bylaw this summer requiring face coverings in all publicly accessible indoor spaces including stores, restaurants and transit facilities. The bylaw was renewed in November and will be in place until the end of 2021 .
Miller filed his statement of claim on Aug. 24, alleging the mask bylaw created a “nuisance” and that the “real health crisis” is “the accumulation in litter caused by the discarding of unsanitary used face masks” in public places.
A clerk flagged the lawsuit as “apparently vexatious” and referred it to Neilsen, the Edmonton judge charged with screening potentially abusive court filings.
In response to a series of questions from Neilsen, Miller, who was not represented by a lawyer, claimed the mask bylaw violated his Charter protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
He went on to call the bylaw a “wanton act of nonsense, depravity, and illegal abuse,” and said “we may very well see another mandatory bylaw enacted by Edmonton council stating that all Jews must wear yellow stars.”
The City of Edmonton replied that Miller’s filing was “frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of process” and asked it be struck.
Neilsen agreed, adding that “Mr. Miller does not deny that he is litigating not for himself but for a broader social purpose.”
“He is candid about the reason for his lawsuit: he is a self-declared community advocate who sued to alter policy decisions by political actors. That is a further reason why Mr. Miller’s lawsuit against Edmonton is an abuse of the court.”
Neilsen left the door open for the city to apply to have Miller deemed a vexatious litigant, which would present him from filing certain types of applications without the court’s approval.
The judge stopped short of ordering Miller to pay the city’s legal costs.
— With files from Dustin Cook
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