The lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit against the city of Saint John over sexual abuse at the hands of the late Kenneth Estabrooks, has been awarded $25,000 in costs for his legal team by Justice William Grant after getting certification.
“The city now going to have to pay $25,000 for losing the certification motion,” says John McKiggan, who is the lawyer for Bobby Hayes, “in other words, because they opposed certification unncessarily that’s cost the city an extra $25,000.”
McKiggan says to his knowledge, this is the largest cost award in New Brunswick on a contested motion.
“So basically what the court was saying is that they recognize that this was an important step in the proceeding and one that merited a significant award,” says McKiggan, who was seeking a much higher number — $150,000.
“The amount we were seeking would have been a hundred times larger than any previously reported cost award on a motion so I’m not particularly suprised. The award that Justice Grant issued was fair and reasonable we’re very happy with it.”
The next step in the process is notifying class members that the lawsuit has been certified. The private investigator hired by the city, the Ontario-based Investigative Solutions Network, say they’ve talked to over 150 people who say they were abused by Estabrooks but McKiggan says his office has not been contacted by that many.
“So I know that there are people out there who are part of the class who’ve not reached out to my law firm. That may be because they don’t have about the class action, that may be because they don’t know we’re representing the class,” says McKiggan.
“So for whatever reason they need to be notified and be given the opportunity to participate or not participate as they choose.”
Those who are in New Brunswick are automatically in, but they can opt-out if they choose. Anyone outside of the province, has to opt-in.
Justice William Grant has ordered that the two sides split the cost of notification.
The city is attempting to block the class action lawsuit, having appealed the ruling by Justice Grant that those who say they were sexually abused by Estabrooks, can sue the city as a group.
