Canada’s highest court has dismissed an appeal by the City of Saint John in connection with the class-action lawsuit by those who say they were sexually abused by the late Kenneth Estabrooks.
The City tried to appeal a ruling by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
Estabrooks, who worked as a Saint John police officer and for city works, was convicted in 1999 on four counts of indecent assault and died in 2005.
Private investigators hired by the city found 263 people, mostly boys, may have been sexually abused by Estabrooks.
The Court of Queen’s Bench certified a lawsuit by those who say they were sexually abused by Estabrooks and allowed them to sue the city as a group.
It was appealed by the city but the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling in a decision released last year.
