A judge in the British Columbia Supreme Court has decided that a class-action lawsuit aiming to represent all adults in the province who allegedly had their rights violated by provincial COVID-19 orders cannot move forward due to numerous issues caused by the plaintiffs themselves.
Justice David Crerar issued a detailed ruling on Monday following 30 days of hearings and written submissions, which included a significant amount of evidence dating back to 2022. The lawsuit, brought by 171 individuals under the banner of the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy, sought damages for what they claimed were unjustified COVID-19-related orders.
The group argued that Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and the province had used executive powers based on unproven scientific and legal grounds, leading to severe consequences for adults in British Columbia. The lawsuit alleged that these measures violated various rights protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Had the lawsuit been successful, it could have resulted in millions of individual trials for the province’s approximately four million adults, ultimately resulting in lump sum payments funded by taxpayers.
Justice Crerar clarified that his decision did not assess the validity of the claims against the province or Dr. Henry but focused on whether the lawsuit was appropriate as a class action. He found that the lawsuit did not meet the necessary criteria and dismissed it as an abuse of the legal process, citing attempts to circumvent established judicial reviews and persistent violations of pleading rules.
Additionally, Crerar highlighted that the lawsuit failed to satisfy key conditions for certification, including the absence of a representative plaintiff capable of adequately representing the class’s interests.
During the hearings, the court heard a range of grievances related to the COVID-19 orders, from individuals dissatisfied with vaccination delays to those opposed to vaccination altogether. Crerar noted that while a more carefully crafted legal argument challenging the COVID-19 orders might be conceivable, the current lawsuit did not meet that standard.
