Post by mary on Jun 13, 2007 11:04:28 GMT -5
Families of autistic children waived of legal fees
Jun 12, 2007 09:37 PM
Tracey Tyler
Legal Affairs Reporter
It would be “manifestly unjust” to insist that five families who have already made “financial sacrifices’ for their autistic children pay $85,000 in legal costs to the Ontario government and seven school boards, a Superior Court judge ruled today, saying the case raises important issues of “access to justice.”
The province and boards argued they were entitled to costs because they were “substantially successful” in striking out key portions of a $1.25 billion class action lawsuit filed by the families, which accused the government of negligence by failing to provide treatment for autistic children in schools.
They also said the families couldn’t be excused from paying legal costs by claiming their lawsuit raised legal issues that were new or important for the general public. The lawsuit is really an attempt to relitigate issues already resolved in other cases, lawyers for the boards and province told Justice Maurice Cullity this week.
But Cullity disagreed.
While the province and boards did manage to have several aspects of the lawsuit struck, the families can still proceed with a claim their children’s equality rights have been violated, a difficult question in an area of the law undergoing “quite rapid evolution,” he said.
“There is nothing frivolous, vexatious or abusive … about the action either in social or legal terms,” Cullity said. “I consider that it would be manifestly unjust … to penalize the plaintiffs, or their parents, by ordering them to pay the costs of this particular motion.”
Taline Sagharian, who is suing on behalf of her son, Christopher, 10, said she and her fellow plaintiffs are “thrilled.”
“We had no idea how we were going to pay if the judge ordered so,” she said.
Jun 12, 2007 09:37 PM
Tracey Tyler
Legal Affairs Reporter
It would be “manifestly unjust” to insist that five families who have already made “financial sacrifices’ for their autistic children pay $85,000 in legal costs to the Ontario government and seven school boards, a Superior Court judge ruled today, saying the case raises important issues of “access to justice.”
The province and boards argued they were entitled to costs because they were “substantially successful” in striking out key portions of a $1.25 billion class action lawsuit filed by the families, which accused the government of negligence by failing to provide treatment for autistic children in schools.
They also said the families couldn’t be excused from paying legal costs by claiming their lawsuit raised legal issues that were new or important for the general public. The lawsuit is really an attempt to relitigate issues already resolved in other cases, lawyers for the boards and province told Justice Maurice Cullity this week.
But Cullity disagreed.
While the province and boards did manage to have several aspects of the lawsuit struck, the families can still proceed with a claim their children’s equality rights have been violated, a difficult question in an area of the law undergoing “quite rapid evolution,” he said.
“There is nothing frivolous, vexatious or abusive … about the action either in social or legal terms,” Cullity said. “I consider that it would be manifestly unjust … to penalize the plaintiffs, or their parents, by ordering them to pay the costs of this particular motion.”
Taline Sagharian, who is suing on behalf of her son, Christopher, 10, said she and her fellow plaintiffs are “thrilled.”
“We had no idea how we were going to pay if the judge ordered so,” she said.