Dr. Rosemary Barnes

This motion sought court approval for a class action settlement concerning systemic abuse at Grenville Christian College.

The plaintiffs requested approval of the $10.875 million settlement agreement, Class Counsel's fees of $3,122,187.50, payment of the Class Proceedings Fund's levy, and honoraria for the five representative plaintiffs.

The court approved the settlement and Class Counsel's fees, finding them fair and reasonable given the significant litigation risks, particularly the erratic and limited insurance coverage available to the judgment-proof defendants.

However, the court denied the request for honoraria, emphasizing that such awards should be rare and exceptional, despite acknowledging the representative plaintiffs' valuable contributions.

This is an appeal from a common issues trial judgment in a class proceeding.

The class, comprising former boarding students of Grenville Christian College, alleged systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duties due to abusive practices including corporal punishment and public humiliation.

The trial judge found class-wide breaches and awarded punitive damages.

The appellants sought to set aside the judgment, arguing errors in the trial judge's use of expert evidence and treatment of defence evidence.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, affirming the trial judge's findings of systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, and that punitive damages were warranted, concluding that the trial judge's assessment of evidence and application of legal principles were sound.

The plaintiffs, former boarding students of Grenville Christian College, brought a class action against the school and the estates of its former headmasters for systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.

The court found that the school operated as a 'total institution' and employed abusive, arbitrary, and humiliating disciplinary practices, including excessive corporal punishment and public shaming, which fell below the standard of care for educational institutions in Ontario.

The court concluded that the defendants breached their duty of care and fiduciary obligations to the students, and that their conduct merited an award of punitive damages.

The plaintiff sought damages arising from childhood sexual assaults committed by a priest who stood in a position of trust and authority.

Civil liability was established through the defendant's criminal conviction, leaving quantum as the sole issue.

The court awarded substantial non-pecuniary damages, pecuniary damages for lost college-level earning capacity and future treatment costs, punitive damages, and prejudgment interest.

The court accepted expert psychological and accounting evidence linking the abuse to long-term psychiatric injury, impaired educational attainment, reduced occupational achievement, and ongoing treatment needs.

The court sentenced an Aboriginal offender who pleaded guilty to three historic indecent assaults committed against three young female relatives while he was an adult in a position of trust.

Applying the Gladue framework and weighing severe systemic and background factors, including residential school abuse, alongside denunciation and deterrence for child sexual abuse, the court found that a penitentiary sentence was not fit in the circumstances.

A global conditional sentence of two years less one day to be served in the community was imposed with strict house arrest, treatment, abstinence, no-contact, and community service conditions.

The court declined discretionary weapons and child-contact prohibition orders, but issued mandatory DNA and sex offender registry orders.