VANCOUVER — A downtown Vancouver nightclub hit with an $18-million civil suit over an alleged sexual assault is punching back with a suit of its own, claiming the plaintiff is an opportunist using the #MeToo movement to extort money.
Twelve West, a club on the Granville Strip, alleges Yoshnika Shah is trying to take advantage of public concern over sexual harassment and assault to extort money from the club, according to a suit filed Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
Twelve West denies Shah’s allegations that the club attempted to cover up her alleged sexual assault on its property on Oct. 23, 2015.
“Ms. Shah knows that her claim against Twelve West is no more than a collection of falsehoods crafted to obtain compensation,” Twelve West claims in its lawsuit. “This is unlawful.”
It alleged that Shah is liable for committing the torts of abuse of process, civil fraud (i.e., extortion) and intimidation.
Shah filed her suit against the nightclub and an alleged assailant on Oct. 18, 2017.
According to the original suit, Shah said she was found “in an immobile state” on a couch in Twelve West, picked up by staff and put in the kitchen, where she was sexually assaulted by a man who had entered the club through an open back door.
These claims have not been proven in court.
Shah says that she contacted the Vancouver police and visited a doctor after the alleged assault. She further claims the nightclub did not provide video from the night to police and “tampered and destroyed” video evidence. Police declined to comment.
Shah is seeking $18.15 million from Twelve West.
Five days later, on Oct. 23, 2017, Shah filed a separate lawsuit against her alleged assailant, seeking $23.15 million.
That same week, Shah filed a lawsuit against the Vancouver Police Department seeking $300 million in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on June 26, 2017.
In that suit, Shah claims she was physically abused and sexually assaulted by six officers inside a jail cell after she was arrested when she and her mother were kicked out of a Granville Street nightclub and tried to ask police for help.
Shah seeks relief for physical abuse, defamation and sexual assault, the loss of her social life, job and apartment, and a range of physical maladies. She calls for the officers involved to be fired and jailed, and for police to pay for her loss of income and earning capacity, general damages and care.
Following her arrest, she filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner of B.C., according to her court claim. Due to privacy laws, the OPCC does not confirm receiving or discuss complaints.
None of Shah’s allegations against Vancouver police have been tested in court. Vancouver police declined to comment on the case, as it is before the courts.
In an email to Postmedia News, Shah said she is trying to raise awareness about the alleged incident at Twelve West “so that no one else goes through what I have. I am only trying to fight for my rights and get justice for the wrong done to me.”
According to Twelve West’s claim, Shah contacted Vancouver police on Oct. 29, 2015, six days after the alleged assault at the nightclub.
Police spoke to Shah, who stated she couldn’t recall what happened at the club that night, but had only a single shot of tequila while in the club and couldn’t recall anything after the shot.
Police told her that employees found her in the middle of the nightclub, where she was highly intoxicated and in need of assistance. They took her to a well-lit kitchen and server area, gave her water and used her cellphone to alert her friends.
Twelve West alleges no one named in Shah’s lawsuits has been charged with any crime related to the alleged incident.
Twelve West is questioning the timing of Shah’s claims, which it alleges were filed just as the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements brought to light major allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against prominent public figures — and, in the club’s case, two years after the alleged assault.
Shah said the two-year delay in filing the civil suit was because she was involved in a motor-vehicle accident in December 2015 and went abroad to recover. She returned to Canada in 2017.
The club claims Shah is trying to harm its reputation to leverage a settlement while taking advantage of the public’s justifiable concern about sexual harassment and assault to gain notoriety.
“It is in this factual context that Ms. Shah asserted her claims, collectively amounting to in excess of $340 million against Twelve West [and another] and the Vancouver police,” Twelve West’s claim says.
“Ms. Shah’s scandalous claims against Twelve West are false and opportunistic.”
Twelve West is seeking unspecified general damages for lost revenue and damage to its reputation, punitive and aggravated damage and a permanent injunction preventing Shah from bringing action relating to the same claims against Twelve West. It also seeks interest and costs.
Twelve West claims it has suffered due to Shah’s claims, which have painted the perceived “modern, upscale nightclub” as an unsafe and criminal enterprise. It says internet searches turn up media coverage of her claims and have cost the club potential business. It also said its owners, managers and employees have been subjected to verbal abuse and accused of criminal behaviour.
No allegations made by Twelve West in its lawsuit against Shah have been tested or proven in court.
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