Judge in sex harassment case to face inquiry

A public inquiry will be held to examinethe conduct of a Manitoba judge connected to a sexual harassment and discrimination complaint.

Lori Douglas, an associate chief justice with the Court of Queen's Bench (Family Division), has been under review by a panel of five judges, ordered by the Canadian Judicial Council in January.

The CJC announced Wednesday thatfollowing the review, it has been determinedthe matter may be serious enough to warrant Douglas's removal from office.

The council said an independent lawyer will be selected to present all evidence in a fair manner and additional details about the inquiry will be released in the coming weeks.

This is the first inquiryto be called since changes were made to CJCbylaws and procedures in October 2010. The changes were made to streamline some of the key steps for reviewing complaints against federally appointed judges.

Douglas stepped away from her duties as a sitting judge in September 2010, after Winnipegger Alexander Chapman filed a complaint with the CJC in July.

He claimed Douglas's husband, Jack King, tried to pressure him to have sex with her in 2002 and 2003.

At the time, both King and Douglas were lawyers, partners at the firm Thompson Dorfman Sweatman in Winnipeg.

Douglas remained a partner at the firm until 2005, when she was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench. She was later named associate chief justice.

Chapman also filed a complaint against King, filed with the Law Society of Manitoba in July 2010. In early November, the society announced that it had charged King with violating three provisions of the code of professional conduct: integrity (breach of trust), prohibition against sexual harassment and conflict of interest.

The charges have yet to be proven at a disciplinary hearing, where the complaint will be heard bytwo lawyers and one member of the public. No date for that hearing has yet been set.

Lawsuits filed

Chapman also filed a $10-million lawsuit against King, along with a $7-million claim against Douglas and a $50-million claim against Thompson Dorfman Sweatman.

He filed all three lawsuits on Sept. 1, 2010, claiming he was harassed and suffered emotional distress when King tried, but failed, to get him to have sex with Douglas.

He later dropped the lawsuits against the law firm and Douglas; and the suit against King was tossed out by the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench.

In his decision to dismiss the suit, Judge John Menzies wrote that Chapman had no right to sue after signing a confidential settlement agreement with King seven years ago, promising not to take legal action against King, his partners or the law firm.

As part of that agreement, Chapman was paid $25,000 by King.

Chapman first met King in 2002, when he retained the lawyer to handle his divorce. King showed him sexually explicit photos of Douglas, naked in various forms of bondage, in chains, with sex toys and performing oral sex.

Many of the photos had also been posted on a porn website devoted to interracial sex, particularly between black men and white women.

That information was admitted to by King, who has also apologized for his behaviour, particularly to his wife, who he said had done nothing other than privately indulge him in his strange tastes.

"My behaviour was disgraceful," he said at a law society hearing. "To my wife, I can never apologize enough."

King also admitted to arrangingtwo meetings for drinks,which he attended along with Chapman and Douglas.

Soon after his divorce proceedings were completed, Chapman filed a complaint to the managing partners at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman. King then left the firm and reached an agreement with Chapman that included aconfidentiality clause.

King later became a partner in a new firm he helped found.

After seven years of silence, Chapman decided togo pubic with hiscomplaints and allegations at the end of August 2010, telling CBC News he still felt distraught about the matter.