Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon arrives at the courthouse for his civil trial in Montreal in September, 2025.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Gilbert Rozon, the founder of Just for Laughs, has been ordered to pay a total of more than $880,000 to eight of the nine women who had accused him of sexual assault and misconduct.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Chantal Tremblay awarded the damages in a written decision released Tuesday, following a civil trial that lasted 10 months.
The women suing Rozon were seeking $14-million in civil court for incidents that occurred between 1980 and 2004, during a period when he founded the international comedy festival.
Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon says his life has been ruined by sexual assault allegations
“This judgment therefore aims to bring this long trial to a close and to reaffirm that an infringement of personal integrity, when proven, calls for a legal response proportionate to the extent of the harm suffered,” Tremblay said in her decision.
Rozon had claimed he had consensual relations with three of the nine women, and had denied the other allegations against him, saying his accusers had formed a coalition against him with the aim of getting rich. He countersued four of the women for defamation, demanding $275,000 each in damages.
Tremblay rejected his four counterclaims, and also ordered that he pay the women’s legal costs.
Following the allegations, Rozon stepped down from Just for Laughs in 2017 and later sold the company.
Nine women – Patricia Tulasne, Lyne Charlebois, Anne-Marie Charette, Annick Charrette, Sophie Moreau, Danie Frenette, Guylaine Courcelles, Mary Sicari, and Martine Roy – went public with their allegations when they filed their claims against Rozon. All of them except Sicari were awarded damages in Tuesday’s ruling.
Only one of a series of police complaints against Rozon resulted in a criminal trial. In that case, he was found not guilty on charges of rape and indecent assault connected to events alleged to have taken place in 1980 involving Annick Charrette.
In Tuesday’s ruling, he was ordered to pay Charrette $95,000. The prosecution declined to press criminal charges in 13 other complaints.
The women who had sued Rozon were scheduled to speak with reporters later in the day.