B.C. government liable for negligence after Castlegar infant abused
By Castlegar Source
In a decision brought by the B.C. appeals court Thursday, the provincial government is being held liable for negligence in a case involving a four-month-old Castlegar infant.
The infant, now six years old, was violently shaken by his father on Sept 16, 2002, suffering permanent injury, and the child’s maternal grandmother is now seeking more than $6 million for the child’s future care.
A convicted child abuser who fractured his two-year-old son’s leg in an incident in Manitoba before this son was born, the father was placed under a “no contact without supervision” order by a provincially-employed social worker in regard to his younger son.
Three weeks before the 2002 assault, the order was lifted.
The child’s grandmother sued the province and the father for assault and negligence and, in February of this year, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon found both the province and the father liable for negligence, and the father liable for assault.
The government appealed the decision, but the court of appeals upheld Dillon’s ruling.
In written comments, the Honourable Madam Justice Saunders said, “This evidence amounts to sharp expert criticism of the revocation, by means of the August 23, 2002 document, of the supervision requirement. Coupled with evidence of the practice of social work and the regulatory scheme, the evidence of the events and the evidence of the escalating risk factors, this evidence provided a sufficient evidentiary basis for the judge’s conclusion on the issue of breach of the standard of care.”
A new trial, set for Nov. 16, will determine the damages to be awarded the plaintiff.
The father is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted of the aggravated assault of his older son in Manitoba.
