Legal issues[edit]
Brokeback Mountain lawsuit[edit]
On March 23, 2006, Quaid, who played rancher Joe Aguirre in
Brokeback Mountain, filed a lawsuit against
Focus Features(LLC), Del Mar Productions (LLC),
James Schamus,
David Linde and Does 1–10 alleging that they intentionally and negligently misrepresented
Brokeback Mountain as "a low-budget, art house film with no prospect of making money" in order to secure Quaid's professional acting services at below-market rates. The film had grossed more than $160 million as of the date of his lawsuit, which sought $10 million plus punitive damages.
[12] On May 5, Quaid dropped his lawsuit. Quaid's publicist said that he decided to drop the lawsuit after Focus Features agreed to pay a bonus. Focus Features denies making such a
settlement.
[13]
Alleged failure to pay hotel bill[edit]
On September 24, 2009, Quaid and his wife were arrested in Texas for allegedly defrauding an innkeeper, for burglary, and conspiracy in California. The arrest stemmed from an earlier incident in which the Quaids had allegedly left a Santa Barbara, California hotel with a balance due of approximately $10,000. The two were released on bail that evening.
[14] Evi Quaid provided a handwritten statement to the celebrity news site
TMZ after the arrest claiming that the bill had been paid. A copy of a cashier's check for $5,546.96 dated September 22, 2009 accompanied the note.
[15]
The Quaids made arrangements to appear in court in Santa Barbara but failed to do so. On October 29, the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office requested bench warrants for their arrest and extradition from Texas.
[16] Although subsequent arrest warrants were quashed, after the Quaids failed to appear at court on April 12 and 13, 2010, $40,000 in bail was forfeited and arrest warrants for the couple were issued again on April 14, 2010.
[17][18]
The Quaids appeared in court with their attorney Robert Sanger on April 26, 2010 after missing several court appearances. The Quaids were briefly detained in custody on April 26, 2010 and released after processing. On April 28, 2010, Sanger resolved the case with Senior Deputy District Attorney Arnis Tolks. The case was dismissed against Randy Quaid for lack of evidence. Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper. She was granted probation for three years. She was required to serve 240 hours of community service.
[19][20]
Alleged illegal occupancy[edit]
On September 18, 2010, in
Santa Barbara, California, Randy Quaid and his wife faced burglary charges for living in a guest house without permission of the owner. They claimed that they had owned the property since the 1990s although a representative of the property owner had called the
Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office and produced documents that showed the house as being sold to the current owner in 2007. The previous owner purchased the property from the Quaids several years earlier. TMZ reported that the Quaids claim that the home was wrongfully transferred to a third party by the use of the forged signature of a dead woman named Ronda Quaid in 1992.
[21] The Quaids are accused of more than $5,000 in damage that they are said to have caused to the guest house.
[22]
They were booked for felony residential burglary under section 459 of the
California Penal Code (459PC), and misdemeanor entering a non-commercial building without consent (602.5 PC). Evi Quaid was also booked for misdemeanor resisting arrest (148PC). Their bail was set at $50,000 each. On September 19, 2010 they posted bail and were released.
[23] On October 18, 2010, bench warrants for the Quaids were issued following their failure to appear for a hearing on the burglary charges.
[24]Their bail was subsequently raised to $500,000 each.
[25] The bail was forfeited in November 2010.
[26] The company that posted bail for the Quaids lost a court case in January 2012 to prevent the forfeiture.
[27] On April 11, 2014 it was ruled that Randy Quaid's bond will be rescinded due to a procedural error.
[28]
"Star Whackers" and Canadian exile[edit]
On October 22, 2010, Quaid and his wife sought protection under the Canadian
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, after being arrested in the
Kerrisdale neighborhood of
Vancouver.
[29] Subsequently, they applied for
refugee status on the grounds that they fear for their lives in the United States, claiming that numerous actors have died under mysterious circumstances committed by the "Hollywood star whackers".
[30] They were granted bail on the condition of $10,000 bond pending further
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada hearings.
[31] However, due to their failure to deposit the required bond with the court for several days, they remained in custody of the
Canada Border Services Agency.
[32] They were released on October 27 after the discovery that Evi Quaid is a "
prima facie Canadian citizen".
[33][34][35] On July 15, 2011 an attempt to extradite Randy and Evi Quaid from Canada failed when the U.S. Department of Justice turned down a request from the Santa Barbara County district attorney calling for the Quaids to be returned to California to face the felony burglary charges dating from the September 2010 incident.
[36] As a result, Quaid and his wife would be subject to arrest in the United States.
[37] In January 2013, Canadian immigration officials denied Randy Quaid's request for permanent resident status in Canada
[38] while leaving open the option to challenge this decision in Canadian Federal Court.
[39]
In 2011, Evi produced a low-budget docudrama,
Star Whackers, starring Randy, which ruminated upon the allegedly existent criminal conspiracy. Described as "drugged-out dreck" by
Vancouver Sun film critic Peter Bernie,
[40] the film screened at least once, but has not been commercially released.
The "star whackers" theory has attracted the interest of film industry critics and gossips,
[41] as well as conspiracy theorists who fancy the "whackers" are responsible for the strange demises of myriad other Hollywood workers, such as
Philip Seymour Hoffman and
David Carradine.
[42]
