Squamish resident Adam Steven Smolcic is suing The Home Depot, Inc.'s (NYSE:HD) Canadian division as well as a greeter at the company's Squamish store for a combined $1 million. He alleges that the greeter defamed him and falsely accused him of sending her explicit photos.
Smolcic said in his Sept. 6 notice of civil claim that he met Home Depot greeter Jackie Tasha Marie Mclelan last summer through his work as a taxi driver. He also works at a property maintenance contractor TopHat Industries.
Mclelan sent Smolcic a friend request on Facebook, which he did not accept because he thought they were "only acquaintances," he wrote in his notice of civil claim.
She allegedly asked him about why he did not accept her request and he told her in February that he does not like to add many people to his Facebook friends list, according to the lawsuit.
Smolcic said that "it was that evening I returned home and discovered that Jackie had commented on (Facebook) on one of TopHat Industries Inc.'s paid advertising in an extremely defamation way (sic), telling people I was a piece of shit and not to do business with me," he wrote in his notice of civil claim.
He said in the lawsuit that he deleted the comment and went on with his life.
Relations between the two were then OK until July 19, when he went to Home Depot to buy products for his property maintenance company when he noticed that Mclelan "spotted me and immediately turned her back," Smolcic said in his claim. He then noticed that she had made another negative comment on Facebook about TopHat Industries, he alleged.
Mclelan allegedly had blocked Smolcic, so he could not view the full comment, nor delete it for almost two weeks, "until a way was finally found to have it deleted," he said in his lawsuit.
Smolcic contacted Home Depot management "to have them intercede and force Jackie to remove her comments," he alleged.
Mclelan then started "mocking" Smolcic on Facebook, and she told her cousin, Shawn Mclelan, that Smolcic threatened her, Smolcic said in his claim.
Mclelan again was allegedly called to a meeting with her manager. This time, Smolcic noted in his lawsuit, she said that Smolcic "was sharing sexually inappropriate pictures of my penis with her."
Smolcic said in his lawsuit he filed a police report with the Squamish RCMP.
He called it "extremely unfortunate" that women are able to "falsely accuse" men of sexual offences because people will believe the allegations and men will have to live with the accusations.
"The women that make these false accusations deserve the utmost level of punishment," he wrote in his lawsuit. "It is absolutely not OK to make these accusations."
He said in his claim that he has been unable to sleep, and he wonders if someone is going to physically attack him.
"I am already suffering from medical elements, including a tumour, which leave me handicapped," he wrote. "This stress is killing me."
Smolcic has not hired a lawyer to represent him in his lawsuit, and he did not provide a legal basis for seeking $750,000 from Home Depot and $250,000 from Mclelan.
Neither Mclelan nor Home Depot of Canada has yet filed a statement of defence.
"Given that this is before the courts we will not be providing a comment," Home Depot said this afternoon in an email to BIV.
BIV on Sept. 14 phoned the Squamish Home Depot to ask for a response from either the company or Mclelan, and has not yet heard back.
None of the allegations in Smolcic's notice of civil claim has been proven in court.
Home Depot is also involved in a proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in February, which alleges that the home-improvement product retailer was sharing customers' personal data with Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq:META).
