City resident Mike Sullivan has filed small claims defamation lawsuits against the city’s mayor and a city councillor.
Sullivan told MyStratfordNow he served papers to Martin Ritsma and Mark Hunter at the Sept. 14 city council meeting.
Sullivan is seeking $50,000 in damages from each and also hopes to get an apology.
Sullivan was banned from entering city-owned buildings for a period of 3 months, or communicating with city staff during that time frame, after alleged offensive statements were made at a Feb. 26, 2024 city council meeting.
It was alleged that Sullivan made numerous derogatory and misleading comments against senior city staff, and that the statements were in violation of the city’s respectful workplace policy.
The city said it received five incident reports from city staff as well as three reports from three individuals at the Feb. 26 meeting alleging bullying, harassing and threatening behaviour from two city residents, including Sullivan.
Sullivan said he has a different viewpoint of that council meeting.
“I had successfully challenged the city on their use of closed meetings, and the report came out and I went to city hall and spoke about the report. I was calm, and I was asking them to be quick about trying to fix it. Subsequent to that meeting I was banned for three months from city hall.”
According to Sullivan, Ritsma told CBC Radio the reason behind the ban was due to threats of violence.
“I was never violent, I never threatened violence, I was never even close to that, was never rude, angry, never anything that would indicate I was somehow threatening staff.
“By saying that, he has accused me of a criminal code offence, he has damaged my reputation.”
He said as a result, he is suing Ritsma.
Sullivan said he attended a subcommittee meeting chaired by Hunter, also in 2024 and during his ban from city property, and was asked to leave. Sullivan said he did not leave and Hunter ended the meeting early.
“He didn’t speak to any staff, he didn’t say to any of them ‘are you afraid of Mr. Sullivan here’? He just announced that staff were afraid of me. He has accused me of being threatening, of (it) being of a criminal code offence causing intimidation, I didn’t do any of that, I just sat quietly and listened to the proceedings.”
Ritsma said he was a little surprised.
“I would say that resident and I had a good relationship during that time and since, so surprise is the word that best describes it.”
He said with the Sullivan situation, the issue was city staff’s work being questioned, adding it was important to support them.
He added he is an advocate for supporting those who need it, residents and city staff included.
Hunter sent a letter to Vista Radio responding to the lawsuit.
He believes the claim is without merit.
“As a lawyer, I would never advise a client that their success in litigation is guaranteed. Courts are unpredictable, and outcomes can never be known with certainty. That said, I am extremely confident in my defence,” Hunter said in his letter.
He noted the timing of being served the lawsuit is suspect, adding that the claim against him was filed in court this past June 17.
“Ordinarily, once a claim has been commenced, service follows soon thereafter and promptly. Given the allegations in the claim, it would be reasonable to assume that Mike Sullivan would want the matter dealt with without delay. In litigation, service on the other party is required to begin the lawsuit, and there is a risk that the other party may become more difficult to locate as time passes. In my case, service did not occur in June, July, or August. Mr. Sullivan had many opportunities to serve his claim, as I was regularly present at my office during business hours and attended virtually every council meeting over the summer.”
Hunter said with Ritsma being served his own lawsuit under similar circumstances, the situation spawns many questions, including why was service withheld throughout the summer only to happen during an active municipal election campaign.
Sullivan said he couldn’t meet with Ritsma or Hunter earlier due to personal matters.
Both Ritsma and Hunter are running for mayor of Stratford in October’s municipal election.
Related: Lawyer calls three-month ban against city residents ‘draconian’.
