VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dismissed a third sexual abuse lawsuit against former Olympics CEO John Furlong.
The decision ends a series of civil actions brought against Furlong related to his time as a teacher at a Roman Catholic school in northern B.C.
Judge Elliott Myers also awarded special costs to Furlong, calling the behaviour of the plaintiff egregious, reprehensible and deserving of a rebuke.
The man, who had planned to represent himself, failed to appear as the trial began on Monday.
During a pre-trial conference on Friday, a judge refused the man's request to participate by telephone after he became belligerent and called Furlong rude names. He hung up in the midst of the judge making her ruling.
Last month, another judge threw out a separate sexual abuse claim by B.C. resident Grace West, while Beverly Abraham dropped her lawsuit in December.
Furlong has vehemently denied all the allegations, which surfaced in 2012 after a Vancouver-based weekly newspaper published an article saying he abused former students.
Defence lawyer Bill Smart said the man who accused Furlong of sexually abusing him 45 years ago made similar allegations about being abused at another school and received $138,000 in compensation.
Smart read from an affidavit filed by the plaintiff in August 2005 about another teacher he said sexually abused him, hit him with a strap and called him a “dirty little Indian.”
The man received settlement money from that case and then “falsely accused” Furlong in hopes of benefiting financially again, Smart said.
“All of it - clearly lies because he wasn't at the school,” he said, showing documents that suggested the man did not attend the school where he claimed the other teacher abused him.
“It's the same. Allegations of sexual abuse by a male teacher, (and) racist comments.”
The man claims he was a nine-year-old student when Furlong isolated him in a small room at Immaculata Elementary in Burns Lake, B.C., and forced him into sex acts.
The Canadian Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent.
Smart said the man has served numerous stints in jail, adding that 35 of 53 convictions for break and enter, fraud, theft, forgery and other crimes demonstrate his “dishonest” nature.
Smart played audio of several expletive-laced voicemails left at the law firm in January, when he threatened to bring photographs and a witness to media as evidence of his allegations against Furlong.
Many of Furlong's speaking engagements were cancelled because of the allegations, Smart said, adding his client declined to attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, fearing media attention on him would detract from the Canadian team.
Furlong has turned down job offers and his grandchildren have faced bullying and humiliation, court heard.
“I have been deeply depressed for many months,” Furlong said in a statement read by his lawyer.
“Aside from my family, there is nothing more important to me than trying to clear my name and re-establish my reputation and career.”
Furlong is suing reporter Laura Robinson for defamation after a story she wrote in a Vancouver weekly in 2012 alleging he abused students in northern B.C.
The three sexual assault cases subsequently surfaced.