Roslyn, my old elementary school was a sleepy place where nothing much happened when I attended in the mid-70s. Principal Bill Hay used to urge us not to toss snowballs because he didn't want to deal with some kid losing an eye. But he kept repeating it so often it seemed that he almost bemoaned the lack of excitement in the school.
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School administrators might miss those quiet days, as for the last decade, the public EMSB school has been the centre of a distracting court case with more false endings than a Terminator flick.
It all began with a fairly boilerplate complaint of a teacher who had allegedly spoken inappropriately, critically of kids.
Hago Artinian and Katryn Rosenstein sued teacher Mary Kanavaros for what they said was beahviour that humiliated and intimidated their child.
In May 2005 they laid down the lawsuit and in May 2008, just before it went to court, both sides agreed to a settlement, so as to avoid going before a judge.
So the judge was never required to decide whether the claims were justified or not and part of the deal dictated that neither side would comment on that case.
But the parents made the mistake of granting a series of media interview in which they claimed that the result was vindication.
This wasn't the way Kanavaros saw it, so she sued them for slander in July 2010.
The couple hired high-profile lawyer Julius Grey and both sides finally went to that inevitable battle in the courtroom.
Kanavaros was eventually awarded $234,000 in compensation, money which she was deemed to have deserved because the stress of the case had caused her to cease teaching.
The parents tried to appeal the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court, but a few months after the last of those efforts was shot down, teacher Kanavaros got a writ of seizure on their home.
The parents paid up before the house went up for auction Dec. 14, 2012.
So one might assume the whole unfortunate drama was finally finished.
But on January 23, 2013 Kanavaros sued the couple for an additional $975,000 in damages, a total which the previous decision by Judge Richer had opened the door to.
According to article 733 of the judgement, Kanavaros could conceivably have the right to seize any property preemptively to avoid the possibility of it getting liquidated and the money dispersed.
The couple disputed this deal.
It led to more candid courtroom discussions concerning everybody's general attitude towards each other and the likelihood that the couple might simply find a way not to pay up.
Evidence was brought up that led a court a document to describe Artinian's behaviour relating to a previous divorce as "reprehensible."
He had been, according to testimony, quite determined not to let his previous divorce keep him from living a good life.
So the judge had to decide whether to maintain the measures that would freeze the couple's home -- which Rosenstein has owned since 1989 - in case the couple were ordered to pay more money to Kanavaros.
On March 13 the judge ruled that the couple could keep their house.
The case is still not over, however.
The legal battle over the damages claimed still looms, however, so there's yet even more excitement ahead.
It all began with a fairly boilerplate complaint of a teacher who had allegedly spoken inappropriately, critically of kids.
Hago Artinian and Katryn Rosenstein sued teacher Mary Kanavaros for what they said was beahviour that humiliated and intimidated their child.
In May 2005 they laid down the lawsuit and in May 2008, just before it went to court, both sides agreed to a settlement, so as to avoid going before a judge.
So the judge was never required to decide whether the claims were justified or not and part of the deal dictated that neither side would comment on that case.
But the parents made the mistake of granting a series of media interview in which they claimed that the result was vindication.
This wasn't the way Kanavaros saw it, so she sued them for slander in July 2010.
The couple hired high-profile lawyer Julius Grey and both sides finally went to that inevitable battle in the courtroom.
Kanavaros was eventually awarded $234,000 in compensation, money which she was deemed to have deserved because the stress of the case had caused her to cease teaching.
The parents tried to appeal the verdict all the way to the Supreme Court, but a few months after the last of those efforts was shot down, teacher Kanavaros got a writ of seizure on their home.
The parents paid up before the house went up for auction Dec. 14, 2012.
So one might assume the whole unfortunate drama was finally finished.
But on January 23, 2013 Kanavaros sued the couple for an additional $975,000 in damages, a total which the previous decision by Judge Richer had opened the door to.
According to article 733 of the judgement, Kanavaros could conceivably have the right to seize any property preemptively to avoid the possibility of it getting liquidated and the money dispersed.
The couple disputed this deal.
It led to more candid courtroom discussions concerning everybody's general attitude towards each other and the likelihood that the couple might simply find a way not to pay up.
Evidence was brought up that led a court a document to describe Artinian's behaviour relating to a previous divorce as "reprehensible."
He had been, according to testimony, quite determined not to let his previous divorce keep him from living a good life.
So the judge had to decide whether to maintain the measures that would freeze the couple's home -- which Rosenstein has owned since 1989 - in case the couple were ordered to pay more money to Kanavaros.
On March 13 the judge ruled that the couple could keep their house.
The case is still not over, however.
The legal battle over the damages claimed still looms, however, so there's yet even more excitement ahead.