(NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.,
18 March, 2005) - In a judgment released March 17, Madam Justice
Nancy Morrison of the British Columbia Supreme Court has certified a
class action suit brought against the Government of British Columbia
on behalf of an estimated 1,500 former residents of Woodlands
School, most of whom are severely handicapped.
It is a significant milepost
in a long journey. Poyner Baxter filed the class action in 2002.
Subsequently, the province’s Public Guardian and Trustee commenced a
similar suit, seeking to represent all victims in the class. The
court eventually awarded “carriage” to Poyner Baxter, designating
this firm to represent all members of the class. At the recent
certification hearing before Madam Justice Morrison, the provincial
government argued that each Woodlands case was unique, and therefore
not appropriate for a class action. In this week’s decision the
court ruled against the provincial government in favour of
certification as a class action.
In her written judgment, Justice Morrison ruled, “I do not agree that the individual issues overwhelm the common issues in this case. . . . .there is no question in my mind that a class proceeding is the preferable procedure for the fair and effective resolution of the common issues, given the history of the institution, the types of allegations raised, and the special vulnerabilities of the proposed Class Members.”
The Supreme Court
defined the class as follows:
“All persons
resident in British Columbia, who were confined to the
provincial institution more recently known as Woodlands
School and who, while so confined, suffered physical,
sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse and have
suffered injury, loss or damage as a result thereof.”
“Obviously, we are pleased with this result,” said lawyer Jim Poyner. “We hope that government will now finally recognize that serious damage has been done to a very large number of people, and work to expeditiously correct decades of evasion.”
In a comment earlier this
month, Poyner said, “the Woodlands tragedy has been the subject of
public speculation and debate for more than 30 years, and has been
generally accepted as fact for at least a decade.” He pointed to a
scathing report by former Ombudsman Dulcie McCallum in 2001,
documenting systemic abuse, an apology from the government in 2002
and the establishment of a $2 million fund to counsel these victims.
None of this $2 million has been spent, yet the government has
invested heavily in legal processes to delay resolution.
“We agree that the degrees
of abuse varied greatly among the survivors,” Poyner said. ”We
communicated to government lawyers that individual assessment of
appropriate compensation could easily be structured under the class
action. There was no reply to this. Hopefully, something will now be
done and we invite the provincial government to sit down with us to
resolve this lawsuit.”
Information about the class
action lawsuit, including the complete text of the Statement of
Claim can be found at
www.poynerbaxter.com
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Poyner Baxter, Suite 408 - 145
Chadwick Court
North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 3K1
Telephone: 604.988 6321 Fax: 604.988 3632
e-mail:
classaction@poynerbaxter.com
web site: www.poynerbaxter.com
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