14 Apr Victims of Crime While in Foster Care – Class Action
Lawsuits which may be too expensive or too difficult for one person can become viable when people file an action together. This is called a Class Action. A class action gives the individual the strength of numbers when taking action against defendants who often have more resources.
Acheson Sweeney Foley Sahota has a long and storied involvement with class actions in British Columbia. Not only did our firm contribute to the drafting of the Class Procedures Act, which governs class action in this province, but in 1995 we also filed the first two class action lawsuits in BC. Since then, we have continued to bring a number of class actions to successful resolution.
One of our recent class actions involves individuals who were victims of crime while in foster care. In February 2017, our firm filed a class action lawsuit against the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (“MCFD”), the BC Ministry of Justice (“MOJ”), Public Guardian and Trustee, and the Workers’ Compensation Board. (K.S. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Children and Family Development), Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Justice), Public Guardian and Trustee, and Workers’ Compensation Board).
K.S., the proposed representative plaintiff, brought this action on behalf of a class of minors who suffered as victims of crimes while they were under the care and guardianship of the BC government. The class members allege that the BC government failed to obtain or provide, in a timely manner or at all, the statutory and/or common-law benefits and compensation to which class members were entitled.
K.S. was sexually abused by a family member when she was four and five years old. MCFD became aware of the crimes perpetrated against K.S. and consequently brought her into the provincial foster care system. K.S. remained under the care and custody of MCFD until the age of 19. She struggled to overcome the psychological and emotional traumas that haunted her as a sexual abuse survivor, and which continue to negatively impact her life. Over the years she has paid for much-needed but expensive counselling services out of pocket, to the extent that she could afford it.
It was only in 2015 that K.S. was first informed, through a letter from a MOJ claims coordinator, that she had been eligible since 1992 for government-funded counselling, compensation for pain and suffering and other benefits. For 23 long years, none of the defendants or their agents informed K.S. of her entitlement to statutory benefits. Through their negligence, the defendants violated their legal and professional duties and did not act in the best interest of K.S. and the other class members. The BC government let K.S. and other vulnerable children in its care down. This lawsuit seeks to compel institutional reform and compensate survivors for the pain, suffering and harm that they were consequently forced to endure.
If you would like to join this class action, please contact our firm at (250) 384-6262.