INDIVIDUAL LAWSUITS

INCLUDING INJURIES AND ABUSE CAUSED BY ALBERTA CHILD WELFARE

The difference between an individual lawsuit and a Class Action lawsuit is that an individual lawsuit is only for the facts of your case. Robert P. Lee is not able to take any individual cases on a contingency/percentage fee in which he is paid at the end of the case. If you would like to hire Robert P. Lee on an hourly basis for an individual lawsuit, then please complete the Questionnaire – Individual Lawsuit Paid on an Hourly Basis.

If you are part of a Class Action against Alberta Child Welfare, you may still have the right and ability to make an Individual Lawsuit for your injuries because a Class Action covers only the issues that are in common for all of the Class Members. Each Class Member could have their own individual issues that they could sue for.

If your case is similar to one of the Class Actions against Alberta Child Welfare, but is slightly different, you could have an individual lawsuit. For example, if you would have been in Class Action 1 – Failing to Protect Legal Rights, but you were under a Temporary Wardship Order or you were in care after February 19, 2008, then you might be able to file an individual lawsuit. If you would have been in Class Action 2 – Service Planning/Kidnapping, because of inadequate service planning, but you or your child was in care after September 30, 2009, then you might have an individual lawsuit.

ABUSED OR INJURED BY ALBERTA CHILD WELFARE

  • Child in Care was Abused or injured by Alberta Child Welfare
  • Alberta Child Welfare failed to avoid a conflict of interest
  • Alberta Child Welfare failed to help the Child in Care to sue Alberta Child Welfare

If you or your child was ever in the care of Alberta Child Welfare and you or your child suffered abuse, neglect or injury directly because of a Child Welfare worker, a group home worker or some other employee of Alberta Child Welfare, then you or your child may have the right to sue Alberta Child Welfare directly for causing the abuse, neglect or injury.

Examples of how an employee of Alberta Child Welfare could have abused or injured a Child in Care include:

  • if the employee of Alberta Child Welfare physically assaulted or sexually assaulted the Child,
  • if the employee of Alberta Child Welfare had the care of a Child in a car and negligently had a car accident
  • if the employee of Alberta Child Welfare negligently put a Child into an unsafe foster home or
  • if the employee of Alberta Child Welfare negligently investigated reports of abuse of a Child and failed to remove the Child and protect the Child when the employee ought to have.

In addition, to suing Alberta Child Welfare for directly causing the injuries, it is also possible to sue Alberta Child Welfare for failing to help the child. If Alberta Child Welfare knew about the abuse or injuries and was still the guardian of the Child, then Alberta Child Welfare would have owed a duty of utmost good faith to the Child and Alberta Child Welfare would have owed a duty to the Child to avoid a conflict of interest. That means that even though the person that caused the injuries to the Child was an employee of Alberta Child Welfare, Alberta Child Welfare still had a duty to protect the legal interests of the Child if Alberta Child Welfare was still the guardian of the Child. In basic terms this means that if Alberta Child Welfare knew that a Child Welfare employee harmed a Child in Care, then Alberta Child Welfare should have helped the Child to get a lawyer or a litigation representative to help sue Alberta Child Welfare for the Child.

Alberta Child Welfare had an official policy to help protect the legal interests of children in care, but It is highly likely that Alberta Child Welfare had a secret policy or practice to prevent Children in Care from suing Alberta Child Welfare. Therefore, we believe that on a system wide basis, Alberta Child Welfare did not help children in care to sue the Alberta Government to protect the Alberta Government. Class Action 2 – Service Plans and Kidnapping also alleges that Alberta Child Welfare should have helped the children in care to sue and to avoid a conflict of interest when Alberta Child Welfare became aware that Alberta Child Welfare had kidnapped thousands of children.

If you were injured or abused because of Alberta Child Welfare and if you would like to sue Alberta Child Welfare for the injuries or abuse, then please complete the Questionnaire – Details of Individual Lawsuit.

FINDING A LAWYER

If you think that you have a good case against Alberta Child Welfare and if you would like me to take your case, I will possibly help you, if you cannot find any other lawyer that is willing to help you to sue Alberta Child Welfare on a percentage basis.

I might be able to help you with your case, if you contact at least 20 lawyers and all of the lawyers refuse to help you. If anyone is willing to take your case on a percentage, without you having to pay, then I suggest that you hire that lawyer. If you cannot find any lawyer willing to represent you, then I can possibly help you to sue Alberta Child Welfare.

What you have to do:

1. Phone or email lawyers and tell them about your case and ask them to take your case on a percentage basis. If they say no, then ask them why and ask them if they know of any other lawyer that you could call. (You should call injury lawyers, family lawyers or lawyers that work at big law firms.)

2. Write down the name of the lawyer, the date you called and what they said about taking your case, write down the reason why they did not want to take your case. Write down the name of any lawyer that they referred you to. If they refer you to any other lawyers, then call those lawyers too.

3. When your list of lawyers that will not take your case is at least 20, then fill out this Questionnaire – Can you find a lawyer to represent you?