Judge dismisses $25M lawsuit against Saskatoon Christian church, school, citing abuse of process

Dan Zakreski · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 09, 2025 2:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

A Saskatoon justice has dismissed a $25-million people enactment suit launched successful 2022 against Legacy Christian Academy and Mile Two Church.

Court of King's Bench Justice Rochelle Wempe stayed the suit successful a written determination connected June 3. The archetypal connection of assertion named 22 defendants and alleged systemic maltreatment of students astatine the schoolhouse and church.

Wempe dismissed the claim, citing maltreatment of process.

"The plaintiffs successful this substance failed to instantly disclose colony agreements they reached with 3 named defendants," she wrote.

"I besides find the colony agreements changed the adversarial scenery of the litigation by causing the settling defendants to power sides."

• Arguments statesman successful projected $25M maltreatment suit filed by erstwhile Sask. backstage Christian schoolhouse students

In the judgment, Wempe wrote that erstwhile Legacy Christian staffer Stephanie Case settled successful November 2023, followed by Fran Thevenot and Tracey Johnson successful February 2024.

In astir the aforesaid period, claims were besides dropped against 4 others affiliated with the schoolhouse and church.

The 3 colony agreements were not fixed to the remaining defendants until 5 months aft Case signed, and 2 months aft Thevenot and Johnson signed, and "only disclosed aft Mile Two independently learned of the discontinuances and made repeated requests for accusation from the plaintiffs," Wempe wrote.

These were not insignificant developments, she said.

"The colony agreements had the effect of them switching sides," she wrote.

"The presumption of the agreements specifically provided that the settling defendants would co-operate, marque themselves disposable to the plaintiffs and their experts, supply affidavits and sworn responses to written interrogators, be questioning, disclosure and accumulation of documents, be arsenic a witnesser astatine proceedings and supply grounds which does not alteration from their written responses."

The plaintiffs said that Mile Two and the different defendants were not wounded by the nonaccomplishment to disclose the settlements. Wempe wrote that is not the point.

"The cases successful this respect are wide — nary existent prejudice is required for the contiguous disclosure regularisation to beryllium triggered," she said.

WATCH | Judge dismisses $25M suit against Saskatoon Christian church, school: 

Scharfstein Law successful Saskatoon is representing the plaintiffs.

Grant Scharfstein said the steadfast drafted an appeal on June 9 and intend to record it that day.

"The Chambers Judge erred successful instrumentality successful determining that the contiguous disclosure regularisation for colony agreements applies successful Saskatchewan," the entreaty announcement said.

It besides said the justice "mixed information and law" by determining that the colony agreements "changed wholly the litigation landscapes."