The Alex-Chapman - Ian Histed connection!

Good Day Readers:

Winnipeg lawyer Robert Ian Histed has been mentioned in media reports as having represented Mr. Chapman in previous lawsuits. We have not seen Alex Chapman's latest Statement of Claim against Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas, her husband Jack King and law firm Thompson Dorfman Sweatment for $67 million so do not know whether it was prepared by Mr. Chapman (highly unlikely but possible) or a solicitor(s).

One of our legal researchers has discovered Mr. Histed has previously been disciplined by the Law Society of Manitoba on two separate occasions. Shortly we will be posting the details of the Hearings from the LSM's Discipline Case Digest.

Sincerely/Clare L. Pieuk
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No stranger to courts
Chapman claims ‘false arrest’ in domestic disputes

By DEAN PRITCHARD, Winnipeg Sun/Sunday, September 5, 2010

Chapman filed a lawsuit against city police nine years ago. (Ross Romaniuk/Winnipeg Sun Files)

The man who sparked a media frenzy involving a high-ranking judge and pornographic pictures has been waging legal battles with police for nearly a decade, court records show.

“Oh my God — the man’s name is Sue,” one of Alex Chapman’s ex-wives told the Sun on the condition of anonymity, adding she was married to him for “seven miserable years.”

Alex Chapman filed a lawsuit against city police nearly nine years ago, arising from an alleged domestic dispute with his then wife. The matter was finally resolved in April when the parties reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement.

The thick legal file includes dozens of documents charting a long history of motions, amendments and correspondence. According to the most recently amended statement of claim, dated Aug. 14, 2008, Chapman accused police of “false arrest, battery and arbitrary detention” following an alleged domestic dispute in September 2001.

Chapman claimed his then-wife suffered a panic attack around noon, prompting her to call police to report he had grabbed her by the arms and removed her from their home. Chapman said his wife “recovered” from the panic attack and called police two hours later to cancel her request for assistance.

Police arrived at the couple’s Grove Way home and proceeded to arrest Chapman, despite his wife’s assertion she “no longer required their services,” says the statement of claim.

In a statement of defence, police officers argued they had “reasonable and probable grounds” to believe Chapman had assaulted his wife. According to the statement of defence, Chapman’s wife denied she had been assaulted when police arrived, but upon further questioning “confirmed the substance of the initial complaint.”

The matter was set to go to trial last May before a deal was reached between the two parties.

In another lawsuit still before the courts, Chapman is suing city police, as well as his ex-wife’s nephew and her mother’s estate. The lawsuit, filed in 2003, again alleges police falsely arrested Chapman following a domestic dispute.

Chapman alleges in a September 2008 amended statement of claim that his then-wife flew into a rage following an argument over their telephone service on Jan. 18, 2002.

According to the statement of claim, Chapman feared he would be the subject of a second false arrest and contacted police to report she was “irrational and that there may be a further false complaint.”

Chapman alleges his wife “settled down” and went to bed. His wife’s mother and nephew arrived a short time later, the lawsuit states, and were overheard “speaking maliciously” of Chapman. A heated argument followed, prompting Chapman to make several calls to 911, it states.

Chapman claims his ex-mother-in-law refused to leave the house unless he paid her $27,000. The nephew threatened to have his father “work you over.”

When police arrived, Chapman’s wife, as well as her mother and nephew, “falsely accused (him) of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to them,” says the lawsuit.

Chapman was arrested and later charged with uttering threats and breaching a recognizance. The charges were later stayed by the Crown.

Chapman has filed a massive lawsuit against local lawyer Jack King and his wife, Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas, as well as their former law firm, Thompson Dorfman Sweatman. Chapman claims King harassed him to have a sexual affair with Douglas and tried to lure him with naked pictures of Douglas, many of which had been available on a sex website. King has counter-sued, alleging Chapman breached a seven-year-old confidentiality agreement that netted Chapman $25,000.

No allegations have been proven in court.