Province, orphanage challenge abuse class action
Posted Jan 8, 2013 06:57:11 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The deadline for submissions has come and gone in the class-action lawsuit against the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.
The provincial government couriered documents to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court just before closing Monday.
But the Chronicle Herald reports, a clerk said the documents were not properly sworn and therefore could not be filed.
Lawyers representing the orphanage also filed documents as the deadline for submissions came and went.
About 140 people have registered to be part of the class action so far, most of them alleging horrific incidents of physical, sexual and emotional abuse over several decades, up to the 1980s.
Mike Dull, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he wasn’t surprised to see the government and the home stepping forward to challenge the certification.
One of the home’s lawyers, John Kulik, said they will argue that the situation doesn’t meet the requirements of a class action, noting there are already 59 separate actions before the courts alleging abuse.
Justice Minister Ross Landry was on vacation and not available for comment. The documents weren’t available to be viewed Monday.
