Canadian Olympian Eric Lamaze owes nearly $800K following latest court ruling
A breach of contract lawsuit against one of Canada’s most prominent Olympians finally ended last week with an Ontario judge ruling Eric Lamaze owed the plaintiffs more than $786,000.
The case lasted 15 years and Lamaze had argued he couldn’t take part because he had terminal cancer – but another judge in the same case ruled the evidence Lamaze submitted to prove he was receiving treatment wasn’t “credible or reliable.”
“I’ve carried the weight of this on my shoulders,” Karina Frederiks, the daughter of the plaintiffs, said while growing emotional, minutes after the Aug. 8 ruling.
Her family’s stable, Iron Horse Farm, sued Lamaze in 2010, initially claiming he sold them three horses for show jumping who couldn’t perform as promised before narrowing the case down to two horses in question.
Lamaze denied any wrongdoing in his defence statement.
An Ontario judge ruled in the stable’s favour, noting Lamaze failed to appear in final proceedings.
The lawsuit was one of many involving the Olympic equestrian gold medallist. Lamaze has been sued nearly 20 times in Canada and the U.S. since 2009 over claims ranging from fraud and breach of contract to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent. Nine suits were successful, three were dismissed because court staff couldn’t find him and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two liens against him.
Court records do not show whether he was ever charged with contempt.
Despite facing so many lawsuits – and despite testing positive for cocaine at several Olympics and having multiple judges issuing arrest warrants for Lamaze for contempt of court when he repeatedly failed to respond to court summons – Equestrian Canada named him in 2022 to a leadership role where he coached Canadian athletes on the world stage.
His appointment raises questions about the national sports organization’s scrutiny of their candidates.
Equestrian Canada said it “received multiple assurances from Mr. Lamaze and his legal counsel that he was fully eligible to be contracted and act in the role.”
And, of course, someone using cocaine would never lie!
Global News sent Lamaze a list of detailed questions about the allegations and rulings against him. He declined an interview. In his emailed response said he had no comment except to say: “your reporting on some of you law suits (sic) your (sic) mentioned are not accurate.” He did not explain any inaccuracies.
He previously told the Toronto Star he did have cancer and that he made a mistake by presenting a forged medical document.
“Eric Lamaze made history”
A competitive show jumper, Lamaze began riding for the Canadian national team within one year of his 1992 world stage debut, according to his International Olympic Committee biography.
He was selected to represent Canada at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games but tested positive for cocaine and was banned for four years.
Lamaze’s Olympic biography states his personal circumstances, including growing up with a mother who dealt drugs, were “sufficient to have his ban lifted.”
He made Canada’s Olympic squad again in 2000 but tested positive for cocaine – twice, again dodging a lifetime ban.
Then, at the 2008 Games, Lamaze “made history by becoming the first equestrian athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal for Canada…” according to his Equestrian Canada biography. He also won the team silver medal.
He became Canada’s “most decorated Olympian equestrian” at the 2016 Games when he won two bronze medals, according to his Canadian Olympic Committee biography.
At the height of his career he was “undoubtedly the highest profile and the most successful, the most renowned Canadian equestrian athlete, not just in Canada but across the world,” according to Akaash Maharaj, Equestrian Canada’s CEO from 2008 until 2012, when it was called Equine Canada.
Maharaj knew Lamaze professionally while he served as the executive of Canada’s horse sport governing body, he said.
Lamaze had a “ruthless determination” to always improve his riding and was “willing to attack jumps with complete abandon,” Maharaj said.
But Maharaj said Lamaze was also known for his humility, noting the rider came from a “highly impoverished background” and rose through talent and determination to the top of a sport known for being the reserve of the rich.
“The crowd would roar with support after (Lamaze competed), and Eric’s characteristic gesture was to drop his reins and to point both his fingers downwards at his horse,” Maharaj said.
“He was saying to the audience, ‘your praise and your adulation belongs not to me, but to my horse,’” Maharaj added.
Lamaze went on to win many other medals at different equestrian events, every grand prix event in the world and was ranked No. 1 in the world several times.
He, and his renowned stallion Hickstead, were inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of Sport, Canada’s highest sporting honour, in 2020.
His Equestrian Canada and Canadian Olympic biographies do not mention his positive drug tests or suspensions.
What court documents say
Karina Frederiks said she met Lamaze in 2002 or 2003, when she was 15 or 16 years old.
She read about Lamaze in equestrian magazines and thought buying a horse from him was “the road to success” because she dreamed of riding for Canada.
Her family bought “overqualified” horses from Lamaze, she said, to boost her show jumping career.
It’s an extremely expensive pursuit. A competitive show jumping horse costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. She said she and her family were new to the sport and relied on Lamaze’s expert knowledge.
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But the horses Lamaze sold her family “never really worked out
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