Frank Stronach, founder of Magna International, was charged in 2024 with 18 sex offences involving 13 women.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
A woman has filed a civil suit against Frank Stronach and the company he founded, Magna International Inc. MG-T, for an alleged sexual assault in 1986, when she was a 19-year-old co-op student at the auto parts giant.
The complainant, Jane Boon, alleges Mr. Stronach had sex with her without her consent at a Magna corporate guest house in Gormley, Ont., after a company party at a Toronto bar.
Mr. Stronach, 92, was charged in 2024 with 18 sex offences involving 13 women. He faces two separate trials, one of which is scheduled to start in Toronto early next year. He has pleaded not guilty in that case. A second trial will take place in Newmarket, Ont. The allegations, dating back to 1977, have not been proven in court.
Ms. Boon is not a complainant in the criminal cases.
She alleges in her statement of claim, filed in June, 2025, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, that Mr. Stronach committed the civil wrongs of “physical and sexual assault and battery, sexual misconduct, intimidation and/or the intentional infliction of mental suffering.” Magna, she alleges, was negligent and liable in the matter. The statement of claim contains allegations that have not been tested in court.
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She is seeking a total of $6-million in damages from Mr. Stronach and Magna.
Mr. Stronach and Magna have separately notified the court that they will defend the lawsuit. Neither had filed a statement of defence as of July 30.
Mr. Stronach’s lawyer, Sarit Batner, said in an e-mail that her client “strenuously denies the allegations and will vigorously defend this lawsuit.” Ms. Batner said Mr. Stronach will respond to the allegations with a statement of defence and declined to comment further.
Leora Shemesh, Mr. Stronach’s criminal lawyer, did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
Mr. Stronach sold his controlling shares in the company in 2010 and stepped down as chairman in 2012.
Magna declined to comment, other than to say it will file a statement of defence.
Ms. Boon also declined to comment.
She wrote about her experience with Mr. Stronach in a Globe and Mail essay published in June, 2024.
In her statement of claim, she describes the evening that preceded her experience with Mr. Stronach.
Magna executives and others had gathered after the annual meeting at Rooney’s, a Toronto restaurant owned by Mr. Stronach. She alleges he held her hand and seated her next to him at his table for supper, along with company directors.
Mr. Stronach, then in his mid-50s, was Magna’s chairman, chief executive officer and controlling shareholder.
Her wine glass was repeatedly filled at dinner, and Mr. Stronach’s assistants asked if she wanted to spend the night at the company guest house north of Toronto rather than drive home to Guelph. She declined, the statement of claim says.
“After they had finished their entrees, Stronach pulled Boon onto the dance floor where they danced close to one another in plain view of all the guests at the party,” it says.
Mr. Stronach later told his driver that Ms. Boon had had too much to drink and that he would personally take her to the guest house. “Stronach then, in full view of a hundred colleagues and associates, took her with him to his car which his driver had left parked in front of Rooney’s,” the statement of claim alleges.
Once at the guest house, she alleges, he took her upstairs, undressed her and had unprotected sex with her without obtaining consent.
Ms. Boon’s statement of claim says the encounter left her feeling helpless and depressed. She became fearful about her future at Magna, afraid she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, distrustful of Magna’s executives and uncomfortable working for the company.
At the time, she was sponsored by Magna to attend GMI Engineering and Management Institute in Flint, Mich., a university known to produce automotive executives. She would alternate terms between school and working at Magna in Ontario. Mr. Stronach had interviewed her for the position, and Magna lent her money for tuition with the understanding she would repay it after taking a full-time job at the company when she graduated.
She says she did not tell Magna’s vice-president of human resources about Mr. Stronach’s alleged actions because she feared Mr. Stronach’s interests would be protected over hers.
She would hide in the bathroom, she said, if she knew he was in the building.
“Boon was so shaken by the experience that it affected her personally and professionally for years to come,” the statement of claim says.
Ms. Boon alleges Mr. Stronach’s actions that night caused her to avoid contact with mentors at the company and eventually led her to abandon her plans to become an automotive engineer. After graduating from GMI, she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and would go on to work in consumer goods for Procter & Gamble in Toronto.
Her mistrust of male managers affected her interactions and career advancement. Once a star student with a bright future at an auto parts giant, she faced years of “ad hoc” employment and low pay, she alleges.
“The sexual abuse and misconduct by Stronach has had significant ongoing negative consequences on Boon’s life,” her claim alleges.