The city is appealing a recent decision by Mr. Justice William Grant, which gave people who say they were sexually abused by the late Ken Estabrooks the ability to sue the city as a group in a class action instead of individually.
The sexual abuse happened over three decades dating back to the late 1950’s.
In 2013, it came to light that 263 people, mostly boys, may have been sexually abused when they were between 6 and 19 years old.
Estabrooks was a police officer and then a city employee in Saint John.
Bobby Hayes, the founder of the Joshua Group, is named the plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.
Estabrooks was transferred to the city works department when the sexual abuse came to light in 1975 but was not prosecuted at that time.
He was convicted in 1999 of indecent assault against four young people and was handed a six-year prison sentence.
Estabrooks died in 2005.
Mayor Don Darling declined to comment on the decision to appeal.
