Long Term Care Homes – Corporate-Chain Actions

Class Action Webpage

https://corp.ltcclassactions.com/

The Claims

The six corporate-chain class actions seek damages from the owners and operators of long-term care homes arising from their alleged negligence.

Damages are sought for the physical harm, suffering and death of LTC home Residents and certain Visitors, as well as related damages for the loss of care and companionship suffered by Family Class Members.

The actions allege that the six Defendant owners and operators of long-term care homes – Chartwell Retirement Residences, Extendicare, Responsive Group, Revera, Schlegel Villages, and Sienna Senior Living, and their affiliates – ignored clear warning signs and failed to implement timely, reasonable infection prevention and control measures, instead adopting ad hoc and inadequate responses that exposed elderly residents to COVID-19. The actions further allege that most infections and deaths in their homes were preventable with proper IPAC procedures and pandemic planning.

The Class

(a) “Residents”, “Resident Class” and “Resident Class Members” mean all persons who contracted COVID-19 and who were Residents in, or received care at, the Defendants’ LTC homes at any time between January 25, 2020 and May 5, 2023, or, where the person is deceased, the estate of that person.

(b) “Visitors”, “Visitor Class” and “Visitor Class Members” mean all persons who contracted COVID-19 at any of the Defendants’ LTC homes as part of the homes’ volunteer programs or to visit Residents at any time between January 25, 2020 and May 5, 2023, or, where the person is deceased, the estate of that person.

(c) “Family Class” and “Family Class Members” mean all persons including, but not limited to, spouses, children, parents, and other relatives who, on account of a personal relationship to any one or more Resident Class Members and Visitor Class Members, who have a derivative claim for damages under s.61 of the Family Law Act.

Updates

In 2020, these class actions were commenced against the above-noted six corporate chains as well as a number of municipally owned homes and independently owned homes (in two additional proposed class actions).
On March 7, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified the six proposed actions against the corporate chain defendants. The Court did not certify two other proposed class proceedings against Ontario municipalities and several other independently owned and operated homes but indicated that the Plaintiffs may seek to advance those actions as standalone class actions if representative plaintiffs come forward.
The Court found that “the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of tragedy in Ontario’s LTC homes.” Over 4,000 residents’ lives were lost, with approximately half of those deaths taking place during the first wave of the pandemic. The decision notes that long-term care homes accounted for “some 80% of Canada’s COVID-19 fatalities during the first wave.”