Nude Loner Gets Cold Hard Naked Cash

Nudist colony to reinstate 'loner'
Man gets $12,000 for lost reputation, opportunity
A Vancouver Island nudist, who was ejected from his colony for failing to be sociable with the other nudists, has been ordered reinstated.
Richard Watts, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, December 08, 2006
A Vancouver Island nudist, who was ejected from his colony for failing to be sociable with the other nudists, has been ordered reinstated.

In a B.C. Supreme Court judgment yesterday, Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein ordered Jerry Grenier be reinstated as a probationary member in the Sol Sante Club.

Stromberg-Stein also awarded him about $12,000 in damages, an award that included $10,000 for loss of reputation and opportunity, since the club is the only one of its kind on the Island.

The family oriented Sol Sante Club, which owns 178 acres in Cobble Hill, is said to rival the Butchart Gardens for beauty. There, its 170 members practise nudism and follow the principles of the International Nudist Federation.

Grenier became a probationary member on May 15, 2004. But on July 24, 2004, without any notice to him, the board of directors voted to rescind his membership for a number of reasons including:

- he didn't engage in social nudism;

- he was a loner who didn't socialize with other members;

- he had posted an advertisement on a bulletin board offering to pay a member's child to perform yard work.

Justice Stromberg-Stein ruled none of the complaints provided any foundation for expelling Grenier. She also wrote Grenier felt he had been unfairly characterized as a sexual predator.

Michael Frey, Grenier's lawyer, said all the accusations were easily disputed or contradicted once they came out in the open. "It was all sort of unstated and implied."

Frey said his client has spent most of his career as a military police officer. He now does security work for the International Criminal Court and is now working, likely in Africa.

Sol Sante members who, according to the judgment, are forbidden by club bylaws from publicly identifying themselves as members, could not be reached for comment.