Two people testified on the seventh scheduled hearing in the case of Montreal’s municipal housing authority (OMHM) versus Daniel Palladini. The plaintiff finished presenting its case in the morning with its last witness, Sylvie Marchand, who was general manager of Palladini’s residence during the incidents being examined. Danny Palladini testified and was cross-examined for the rest of the day.
“I recognize the enormous amount of work that this has taken up to now, but I’m asking both parties again whether this can’t be solved in another way,” said Commissioner Rosario Nobile, just prior to the last recess at 3 p.m.
Both parties have good reasons to consider settling. If he loses, Palladini faces eviction from the Manoir Bernard, a subsidized senior’s residence in Pierrefonds.
On the other hand, if the OMHM fails to evict Palladini, all the hours it spent preparing the action will have been wasted, tenants who complained will be dissatisfied, and other tenants may speak up more readily about administrative issues with the para-municipal organization in future.
“I’ve received 125 emails since this case began,” said Marchand, in French. “In addition to the harassment that I received personally, I received notes about tenants being harassed, 15 emails about needed repairs—even though we operate a call centre and normally tenants must call that centre—plus there were 13 calls to the call centre, financial statements, relocation, the exercycle, small claims court.”
She went on to describe some 420 hours of extra work caused by Palladini’s case since January 2010, including an unspecified number of hours meeting with tenants who would testify against Palladini, 26 hours meeting with lawyers, five meetings with politicians and a number of meetings with senior management. Then she expressed dismay at the amount of media coverage the case has attracted, from the Suburban, local newspapers and “even 24 Heures.”
“We manage public funds and the amount spent on this case is excessive,” she said. “The mobilisation of personnel working for the OMHM has been intense: communication agents, security, maintenance staff, rental agents and the general management team have all been mobilized in this case. As well, there has been disruption of the work of the tenants’ association itself.”
Manoir Roger Bernard has two such associations, the Manoir Roger Bernard Tenants Association, which is registered under NEQ 3367019208 and the Manoir Roger Bernard Pool, which is registered under NEQ 3366664822. Of the seventeen pages of complaints about Palladini included in evidence, twelve came from three current directors of these associations. Palladini and many of the others were former directors.
Palladini, who represented himself during the hearing, had difficulty keeping his testimony focussed on issues related to his lease. At one point, Commissioner Nobile tried to explain what he would be ruling on in his decision.
“The regie has no competence in any other problem, it only has competency in the issue of a lease” he said. “Whether you have recourse or a right elsewhere, that has nothing to do with me. They’re complaining about the way you behave with other tenants and with the office. Whether you’re right or wrong has nothing to do with this action; it’s your behaviour that’s at issue.”
In trying to defend himself, Palladini frequently mentioned tenants who weren’t present to defend themselves. Each time, he was ruled out of order by Nobile.
“The kind of unproven comments here are difficult to defend against,” said Palladini. “A lot of these people have been influencing one another and misinforming Madame Marchand. I have been perceived as a real old grumpy guy. I have been verbally abused. One of the witnesses physically abused me.”
When cross-examined about that incident, which occurred on October 16, 2010, Palladini found in his files a letter he sent to OMHM management. He said that no one ever investigated his complaint.
Near the end of the day, Palladini expressed remorse for his actions. “I should have behaved like 99% of the other people and showed no concern over the financials of the association,” he said. “It may be costly, but I’ve learned my lesson and I don’t want to be involved in the association anymore.”
Note: This article appeared in all three Suburban editions this week.
