In 1951, Bouchard was involved in a legal first when he was a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a New York Rangers fan. The fan claimed Bouchard had struck him with his stick when he was waving to a friend watching the game on TV. Bouchard said the fan had actually raised his fist towards a fellow Canadiens player who was being taken off the ice with an injury and his stick hit the fan accidentally as he tried to ward off the blow. In what may have been the first time in legal history, evidence was taken during a trial from someone witnessing an event on a television as the fan's friend testified he had seen Bouchard strike the blow. Bouchard won the case when Otis Guernsey, president of Abercrombie and Fitch, who was at the game, testified he heard "vile language" and saw the fan raise his fist and not wave.