Source
r/legaladvicecanada•
hythrain

Questions On Extortion/Demanding Money Claim From Former Friend

:24px-Flag_of_Ontario:Ontario

A former friend of mine has come after me for money she claims I owed her from over five years ago. When I requested evidence to support her claim (to show the amount, which she claimed was $600, and to confirm I had even agreed to pay it), she threatened to take me to court for ten times the amount if I didn't pay. Does this constitute extortion? If not, does she have any legal ground to even come after me for this money?

Posted Dec 11, 2019, 2:16 AM UTC

114
ChoiceFood•

That's not how it works. She would get the $600 from court not a dime more. They don't magically make people pay more than owed for going to court.

They would also have to prove it in court.

4
seville7281•

Correct although small amounts of interest if agreed to would be also awarded. For example 1.5% per month (18% per year).

3
Fool-me-thrice•

What province are you in that charges 18% per month pre-judgement interest, absent a contractual term stating what the interest was?

1
seville7281•

It’s not prejudgment interest i was talking about a contract where you can charge interest

2
beddittor•

NAL in Ontario but: A) extortion is criminal offense that involves threatening you with physical harm if you don’t pay B) after 5 years, even is she could prove the debt and agreement to pay it is likely that the debt is prescribed (or whatever the Ontario term for expired is) C) none of the above would stop someone from taking you to court but they would ultimately be wasting both your time

3
Fool-me-thrice•

Extortion doesn't require a threat of physical harm. Threatening to send an intimate photo to an employer can constitute extortion, for example.

1
beddittor•

Sorry, you are right about the physical harm. I know some jurisdictions (not canada) make the distinction between extortion and blackmail and I didn’t bother checking ours. Been a while since I’ve had to pick up a criminal code....that’s what I get for being lazy :/

Thanks for clearing it up

1
hythrainOP•

So without threat of physical harm, it's not extortion, but the debt would be expired by now anyway. Okie doke.

0
LorienTheFirstOne•

No, its not just physical harm. A variety of threats can constitution extortion. The one threat that can not be considered extortion however is threatening to sue. That they can always do.

In this case though its too late for her to sue anyway, she has to begin that within 2 years. You can ignore her completely.

3
hythrainOP•

Follow up question: what if she has no evidence that I even agreed to pay it? In short, she’s threatening to sue with no evidence in the hopes I’m too afraid and just pay. Still not extortion?

1
LorienTheFirstOne•

Nope. The law on extortion specifically excludes any threat to take you to civil court.

Extortion would be threatening to have you criminally charged with something, threatening you physically, threatening to release dark secrets about you, or other ways to force you to do something you don't want to other than by civil court action.

1
beddittor•

Yeah, hopefully an Ontario person will weigh in to confirm the statute of limitations

1
tastycat•

For debts it's 2 years in Ontario

2