The child-support court battle involving Canadian clothing magnate Peter Nygard was unique, said a judge who has ordered him to pay the legal tab of more than $1-million racked up by the mother of his 16-year-old son.
"The case was unique. The costs must be viewed as unique as well," Madam Justice Ruth Mesbur of the Ontario Superior Court wrote in her judgment.
Her ruling ends an acrimonious four-year fight over child support with its escalating legal bill for which Judge Mesbur blames the 62-year-old multimillionaire.
"Mr. Nygard fought everything every step of the way. The proceedings were difficult because he made them so," she wrote in a 15-page judgment that is peppered with criticism of Mr. Nygard's stalling tactics.
She ordered him to pay $1,016,163.70 to Kaarina Pakka within seven days of her decision, which was released to lawyers on May 3, but was made public only yesterday.
Mr. Nygard has paid the entire amount, Harold Niman, Ms. Pakka's lawyer, said in an interview last night.
Mr. Niman said the decision should be a message to men who use the same sort of delaying tactics that Judge Mesbur describes.
The ruling will help other women, Mr. Niman said, because Judge Mesbur "talks of the kind of tactics that will not be sanctioned by the court and if someone chooses to use these kinds of tactics, the court will come down very hard on those men that do that."
Ms. Pakka bore a son to Mr. Nygard, who although he expressly told her he wanted a child, saw him only once before he was 3½ years old.
Ms. Pakka, 53, has fought for child support since her son's birth. An airline flight attendant, she suffered an injury after her son's birth and was unable to work for more than a year. She had to rely on family and friends to feed and clothe the baby. He grew up wearing second-hand clothes while his father lived a glamorous, jet-setter lifestyle, Ms. Pakka said at the trial.
Unable to persuade her ex-lover to provide the financial support that she says he promised her when she became pregnant, Ms. Pakka turned to the courts.
During the hearing that began Feb. 16 and went on for 11 days before an out-of-court settlement was reached, Ms. Pakka asked for $68,000 a month in child support. She based this amount on Mr. Nygard's 2002 net income of $10.2-million and the Ontario Child Support Guidelines.
Mr. Nygard, considered one of Canada's wealthiest men, has a net worth of $149-million.
Ms. Pakka also asked the court for $5.5-million in retroactive child support for the period between 1997 when the guidelines came into being and April, 2001, when another judge ordered Mr. Nygard to pay $15,000 a month until the court case was resolved.
The two parties reached a settlement on March 17. The couple signed a confidentiality agreement not to make details public, so it is not known how much their son is receiving. Mr. Niman said at the time that his client, who was out of the country on a cruise, was "very happy" with the settlement.
Ms. Pakka told the hearing that she needed the $68,000 monthly payment. That amount, she said, would enable her to spend $38,000 annually on vacations for herself and her son, $940 a month for her son's lunches and entertainment and $10,000 a month to put toward her son's education and other needs.
Judge Mesbur notes in her judgment that Mr. Nygard, who did not attend the trial, agreed to pay Ms. Pakka's legal fees as part of the settlement. But he soon bristled at doing that, and questioned every cent her team of lawyers and accountants spent on the case, including their fees.
Mr. Nygard even demanded an accounting of every phone call made and every document photocopied..
But Judge Mesbur dismissed most of his arguments.
"It appears to me that Mr. Nygard's conduct in relation to the costs issue is yet another example of . . . his 'scorched earth' policy in relation to this litigation," the judge concluded.