Parents in K-W, upset and no doubt at wit's end, are taking to small-claims courts to seek justice (retribution?) for what they claim is inaction on the part of local school boards to address their concerns with bullying.
Since a Kitchener mother sued the Catholic board in January over bullying against her son — the suit, believed to be a first in Ontario, was settled out of court — many parents have come forward with similar complaints.I'm not sure what to think about this just yet. While Shewchuck makes a reference to people with dollar signs in their eyes, some of the cases cited (and I'm no lawyer) appear to provide an opportunity to address a lack of action or a protocol/procedure that wasn't being followed. At the same time, this tool should be the one of last resort, no?
Hundreds have joined a Facebook group formed by another local mother, where they’re given advice on how to use Small Claims Court to sue, at a cost to the plaintiffs of as little as $75.
John Shewchuk, senior manager of public affairs for the Catholic school board, said school officials are worried the case, at Canadian Martyrs school in Kitchener, has opened the floodgates for similar lawsuits against schools. They want the Ontario Attorney General to intervene to prevent an onslaught of legal action. School officials will raise the issue with the province once the March break is over.
“We want to raise an alarm bell with the government . . . we think they’ve got a little bit of a problem on their hands,” Shewchuk said. “You can just see the herd coming over the hill. You’re going to find more people who quite frankly just don’t like the answer they got, so they’re saying ‘fine, I’m going to sue you.’ ”
Only one of the three latest lawsuits filed in Small Claims Court is against the Catholic board. In that case, parents of an eight-year-old autistic girl allege that St. Teresa Catholic School in Kitchener has failed to protect her from bullies and give her the specialized, in-school therapy they believe she needs.
We already live in an increasingly litigious society (though still far less litigious than our neighbours to the south), do we really need to add this fear of small claims court to the mix? This shows a failure of a lot of things around the bullied child (inside and outside school), and other than getting the board's attention in a judicial forum, I don't know what a small-claims suit actually does to help the bullied child recover and ensure the bully and bystanders are given a consequence for their actions and/or inactions.
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6 comments:
I think what it does ER is stand the system to an awareness of what can happen if concerns are ignored and likely provides some satisfaction to parents who have been on the receiving end of, well, no help, or little help.
Unfortunately if parents, and school boards could get their acts together and catch all of this before it gets to this level then folks will do what they feel necessary.
One would hope that the courts explore the claims thoroughly before passing judgement, but hitting the offenders in the pocket book will definitely get their attention.
What we don't hear is how many parents lose their claims or are charged in the reverse? The law should work both ways.
An interesting development, especially since I gather the Waterloo Catholic Board settled one of the cases against it out of court, although no-one knows what this looks like. It is hard to believe that this isn't linked to the recent increase in the amount of damages that small claims courts can award, and in unemployment - and no doubt some paralegals somewhere will start building a business on advising people to sue based on charging a percentage of the settlement as their fee. Wait, did I just give away that golden advocacy business idea!? And remember that it isn't hitting the defendants in their pocketbooks - it's taxpayer money that funds any settlements, and such settlements correspondingly reduce the amount of money the board has to provide education to everyone.
Retdir:
The change in small-claims awards was mentioned in the article as one of the reasons why these cases are being filed and heard.
Settling out of court suggests to me the board had reason to believe or was advised it wasn't worthwhile to see the case through the court process.
As to some of the other points raised anonymously, I only wish Ontario had a much more modernized and transparent court records management system. Answering how many cases may have been filed, where and what any outcomes may be is an exhaustive process of contacting every courthouse and working with the small-claims court office, and dealing with a lot of paper.
Hugo
"it's taxpayer money that funds settlements"
True enough RetDir but so too is the gov't using our tax dollars to spend on fighting parents of children with autism in our courts.
It's really too bad that it has to go this far but when situations become so out of hand then something has to happen.
It's tax payer dollars that the gov't is spending fighting court battles against parents of children with autism too RetDir.
It's really too bad that it has to go this far but when all else fails that there's recourse for parents one would hope that the courts are fair and impartial in their judgments, making this move by parents justified.
Small Claims Courts only exist because specific laws were passed, by legislators who put their minds to what these courts are and are not intended to address, including the types of actions. For example, in BC (a court mentioned by Mr. Shewchuk) Small Claims Court has no jurisdiction to hear defamation actions, because it says so in the Small Claims Act. Legislators could have excluded school boards from lawsuits arising from bullying, but evidently chose not to.
I have been advised that the Attorney General has no authority to "intervene" in the jurisdiction of Small Claims Court. He could apply to the court for Intervenor Status in a particular lawsuit or lawsuits, just as I or anyone could, but has no authority to decide what the court is allowed to hear. That is up to the legislators who write our laws, pursuant to due process; not the whimsy of any one person.
I am one of many parents who have tried to work through the system without any satisfaction. Like myself, these parents have children who have quite possibly been damaged for life. In fact, some children have actually killed themselves as a result of non-intervention, and the continued lack of accountability so many Ontario families have to endure. I would like to see Mr. Shewchuck speak face to face with these parents.
Mr. Shewchuck's comment about restricting parents to follow the normal steps of talking to teachers, principals and then school board officials is nothing more than an insult to some 140,000 families in this Province and his ill-informed public statement has just caused him to put his proverbial foot into his proverbial mouth.
I for one am disgusted.
Karen Sebben
www.yorkregionanti-bullying.org
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