Court of Appeal restores class status in Ontario developmental services lawsuit | 24CA News
Ontario’s high court docket has restored class motion standing to a lawsuit that alleges the province has positioned individuals with developmental disabilities on unreasonable wait lists for presidency helps after they flip 18.
In a choice this week, Ontario’s Court of Appeal restored a movement choose’s order that discovered there was a powerful sufficient case to permit the go well with’s untested claims to proceed to trial as a category motion.
The lawsuit, which accuses the province of harm-causing negligence, seeks $110 million in damages and asks for a declaration that the federal government has failed adults assessed as eligible for assist however who’ve as an alternative been positioned on unreasonable wait lists.
Marc Leroux of Timmins, Ont., launched the go well with in April 2017 on behalf of his then-19-year-old daughter, Briana Leroux, who court docket paperwork say is non-verbal and requires help companies 24/7.
The unique assertion of declare alleged the teenager had entry to essential help by means of one authorities division as a baby, however that was “arbitrarily and unreasonably” discontinued after she turned 18.
It additional alleged that she utilized for help as an grownup by means of a distinct division and was positioned on a wait listing, the place she remained for not less than a yr and a half.
The go well with alleges the province breached its duties to Leroux and different adults with developmental disabilities by failing to correctly handle its wait lists, forcing Leroux’s kinfolk to imagine her care at their very own expense.
A divisional court docket ruling had discovered the lawsuit’s negligence declare was doomed to fail and that the province owed no obligation of care to the plaintiff, however the Ontario Court of Appeal set that apart.
The enchantment court docket additionally discovered the preliminary movement choose was proper to rule {that a} class motion within the case could be a preferable plan of action to advertise entry to justice and meaningfully advance litigation for individuals with mental disabilities.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
