“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.”