Comedian Guy Earle could end up paying a heavy price for his freedom of speech -- up to $15,000 if his accuser has her way.
At an open-mic comedy show hosted by Zesty's restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. three years ago, Earle, acting as volunteer emcee, lit into Lorna Pardy and her lesbian partner with a profanity-laced tirade that Pardy's lawyer said left Pardy humiliated and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lawyer Devyn Cousineau said during her closing arguments at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing Friday that Pardy should be awarded between $10,000 and $15,000 in damages for the discrimination she suffered as a result of Earle's homophobic comments.
Cousineau argues the comments violate a section of the B.C. Human Rights Code covering service in businesses.
Restaurant owner Salam Ismail is also named in the complaint because Pardy sees Earle as an employee for whom he was responsible. However, Earle never collected a paycheque from Ismail, aside from a few free beer.
Cousineau told the hearing Friday that if Ismail had apologized in the beginning, assured Pardy that this would not happen again at his restaurant and offered her compensation, the issue may never have reached the tribunal.
"Perhaps if that had happened we wouldn't be here today," Cousineau said.
Ismail is being represented at the hearing by his brother Sam, who is not a lawyer.
Sam Ismail asked the tribunal for more time to prepare his final statements, but added that if his brother had attended the comedy show, he would have asked Pardy to leave because she was disrupting the entertainment.
Earle has not been present during the hearing and his request to testify by phone was denied. He has said his attack on Pardy and her friends was nothing more than an attempt to silence an unruly heckler.
"It's absolutely a comedy show," said Earl's lawyer, James Millar after he stormed out of the hearing last week. "That's a smackdown of a heckler."
Millar has boycotted the hearing, contending that the question of whether the tribunal even has jurisdiction to hear the case should be answered before evidence is submitted.
The tribunal's adjudicator has decided to hear the case first, then decide on jurisdiction.
Pardy contends she was not provoking Earl when he began his attack calling her and her friends "dykes and lesbians," along with a myriad of other derogatory slurs.
"It's just not the way I conduct myself in public," she said during the hearing Friday.
"I wasn't in any way challenging him. I was shocked and embarrassed. He was angry and condescending."
Ismail has until Apr. 23 to submit his final statement to the tribunal and Pardy will have a week to respond.
Millar has submitted his final statement to the tribunal.
