Tim Hortons co-founder faces sexual assault suit

TORONTO The billionaire cofounder of Tim Hortons is on the receiving end of a civil suit alleging he
sexually assaulted his sometime lover four years ago, The Canadian Press has learned.
The action against Ron Joyce, who claims hes the victim of a blatant extortion attempt, predates an unrelated
but similar lawsuit filed earlier this year by another woman, who alleges his son, Steven Joyce, assaulted her
aboard his yacht in Florida in an incident he says was consensual.
In mid-2011, according to previously unreported court documents, the woman, now 34, spent the night at
Joyces home in Burlington, Ont., so she could drive him to a doctors appointment in Barrie, Ont., the following
day apparently because his helicopter had been grounded.
They went to bed separately and she slept alone in the guest room, they say.
At 6 a.m., she awoke to find (Joyce) in her bed naked with his hands down her pyjama bottoms, with his
fingers inserted into her vagina, her unproven claim states. (She) screamed repeatedly for the defendant to
get off of her.
The Toronto woman says she has audio recordings of conversations with him in which he admits to assaulting
her, her statement of claim says.
The claim filed in May 2013, which seeks $7.5 million in damages, alleges the incident gave her anxiety
attacks.
While both sides agree they continued a relationship afterward, she says in her suit he subsequently denied the
attack and bad-mouthed her to mutual acquaintances.
Joyce, 84, an Order of Canada honouree and one of the countrys richest people, admits going into her room
that morning but says it was only to awaken her for his doctors appointment.
(She) arose from a deep sleep and immediately started screaming and accusing (Joyce) of improper
advances, according to his unproven statement of defence from October 2013.
He did not touch her inappropriately and did not attempt to penetrate her.
Documents say Joyce, a twice-married father of seven who has been divorced for decades, met the woman in
2005 when he was 74 and she 24.
The plaintiff and him engaged in consensual sexual activities but on an on-call type of basis, according to his
defence statement.
He maintains that in May 2013 she tried to blackmail him by threatening a lawsuit if he didnt help her
financially.
According to his defence statement, she threatened to damage his reputation and report the alleged attack to
the police who declined to lay criminal charges: Details of the alleged attack have been fabricated by the
plaintiff in an attempt to extort money from the defendant.
While she says they were a committed couple and even talked marriage, he argues she was almost
delusional about their relationship and emotionally troubled.
She referred to him as her boyfriend or fianceven though he made it clear the relationship was casual, he says.
She asked him for money and he lent her $150,000, he says in his defence.
Two months after the incident, according to Joyce, her lawyer sent him a draft statement of claim related to the

alleged attack. To make the matter disappear, he says, she wanted him to forgive the $150,000 loan and pay
off another $50,000 to defray her legal expenses. He agreed, with no admission of liability, as a way to assist a
troubled friend and considered the matter settled. For that reason alone, Joyce argues, the courts should
throw out the suit.
The Canadian Press

Ron Joyce, co-founder of Tim Hortons, says the civil suit is extortion. AARON HARRIS / THE
CANADIAN PRESS FILES