Real Housewives of Vancouver cast member's lies lead to special court costs
Jody Lynn Claman, a former Real Housewivesof Vancouver cast member, must pay special costs to her ex-husband as a result of reprehensible courtroom behaviour.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that Claman's lies and manipulation during divorce proceedings met the bar needed for a rare ruling on special costs.
"I find that she deliberately attempted to mislead and deceive the court on numerous occasions," says the decision, written by Justice Miriam Gropper.
'Reprehensible behaviour'
Similar to its American counterparts, the Canadian Real Housewives spinoff followed the lives of a group of wealthy socialites.
During its two-season run, frequent gossiping and explosive arguments between the cast members were as much a part of the plot as high-society cocktail parties.
But what makes for good TV doesn't cut it in court.
Last year, after a highly publicized divorce trial, Claman and her ex-husband, Eran Chaim Friedlander, were awarded joint custody of their daughter.
The pair had been married for almost seven years.
But Gropper dismissed Claman's claim for spousal support and gave Friedlander final decision-making authority in relation to their daughter's education.
Friedlander applied for special costs, alleging that Claman had misled the court about her finances, disobeyed court orders and attempted to devalue her assets.
Gropper said courts only order special costs in extreme circumstances, as a result of "reprehensible" behaviour on the part of a litigant.
Exaggeration and embellishment
At one point, the reality TV star claimed Friedlander sexually abused their daughter, drove her to school drunk and hit the child with an iPad. She then said he was an excellent father in her closing submissions.
"I found Ms. Claman to exaggerate, to embellish, and to avoid answering questions," Gropper wrote.
Claman diminished her assets and failed to claim her income as a cast member of Real Housewives.
She failed to provide financial documentation to enable a valuation of her business interests and didn't comply with her obligations to produce documents to Friedlander's lawyer.
In the earlier divorce ruling, Claman was ordered to pay Friedlander more than $600,000 for a division of assets and expenses.
The amount of the special costs has yet to be determined.
