Oak Ridge Class Action | Rochon Genova

The Claims

Civil lawsuit brought by 28 former patients of the Oak Ridge Division of the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre against the government of Ontario and two psychiatrists, Dr. Elliott T. Barker and Dr. Gary J. Maier, for subjecting patients to coercive, unethical and degrading human experimentation, without their informed consent from 1966 to 1983.

Updates

On March 30, 2006, the court granted leave for the plaintiffs to continue with a multi-plaintiff group action following the failed class action certification.
A multi-plaintiff group action was commenced on behalf of some thirty-seven individuals on October 12, 2006.
On November 3, 2010 the action proceeded to the discovery stage involving tens of thousands of documents.
On November 22, 2013, the litigation plan was agreed to by all parties.
On November 29, 2013, by Order of Justice Perell of the Ontario Superior Court, five plaintiffs were added to the Oak Ridge group action.
On June 1, 2017, The Ontario Superior Court found that the claim for breach of fiduciary duty of the Plaintiffs was not out of time and dismissed the summary judgment motion of the Defendants.
On June 25, 2020, Justice Morgan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released his judgment on the liability phase of the multi-plaintiff action. In a 310-page decision delivered after 53 days of trial evidence and submissions, Justice Morgan held that Ontario and the psychiatrists involved in operating the experimental programs breached their fiduciary duties and committed assault and battery by subjecting these patients to unethical and medically meritless programs.
The “flagrant and outrageous” programs were developed by Dr. Barker and implemented by him and Dr. Maier with the knowledge, and under the supervision, of the Crown. In the Defence Disruptive Therapy program, patients were administered high doses of mind-altering, hallucinogenic, and demystifying drugs, placed and restraints and supervised by “patient observers”. In the Capsule, groups of up to eight patients were placed nude in a small, windowless room, shared an exposed toilet and were fed liquid food through straws in the wall. In the Motivation, Attitude and Participation program (MAPP), patients were subjected to “tortuous punishment”, beginning with four days of solitary confinement followed by a strict regime that required them to sit motionless for hours, while “patient teachers” meted out punishments. As noted by Justice Morgan, the patients at Oak Ridge lived under the constant shadow of MAPP, described by Plaintiffs’ expert, renowned forensic psychiatric Dr. John Bradford, as “positional torture”.
The programs were designed to break down and change the Plaintiffs’ personalities using techniques such as drug-induced delirium and hallucination, brainwashing and positional torture, with no apparent plan for reconstructing them once they had been broken down. Participation in the programs was a “condition for gaining freedom” from the maximum-security institution, withdrawal was prohibited and non-participation was punished, often at the hands of other patients.
Justice Morgan rejected Ontario’s argument that it did not owe the Plaintiffs fiduciary duties because of its mandate to protect public safety: “it is not part of the Crown’s custodial duty to administer mind altering hallucinogens or pain and anguish-inducing Scopolamine to the Plaintiffs. The Crown has no public safety obligation to place the Plaintiff stark naked in isolated and close quarters with each other in the Capsule, or to require them to sit rigidly immobile for hours on end in MAPP at the mercy of another patient, or ‘patient-teacher’, with a mental health background similar to their own. There is no conflict between the ‘observation, care, and treatment’ duty of the Crown toward the Plaintiffs and the protection and safety obligation of the Crown toward the public.”
Justice Morgan found that the doctors and the Crown caused the Plaintiffs short and long-term harm that they did not deserve and that, in some cases, changed the trajectory of their lives.
On February 8, 2021, Justice Morgan ruled on the damages phase of the trial, awarding damages totaling approximately $9.6 million.
On March 4, 2021, the Fifth Estate erred a story on Oak Ridge.
On July 29, 2022, the Court of Appeal:
- upheld Justice Morgan’s conclusion that Ontario and the Physicians are liable for breach of fiduciary duty, as well as Justice Morgan’s findings on battery in relation to 9 of the 28 respondents;
- reversed Justice Morgan’s findings on assault;
- varied, in one respect, Justice Morgan’s treatment of pre-judgment interest; and
- in relation to damages awards: (1) upheld the damages awards for 25 of the 28 respondents; (2) reduced the damages awards for 2 of the respondents; and (3) overturned 1 damages award in the amount of $1,000.00. In total, the reductions amounted to approximately six percent of the damages awarded by Justice Morgan.
On March 30, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal the July 29, 2022, decision of the Court of Appeal, as brought by the Defendants (Applicants).
This March 30, 2023, decision effectively concluded the multi-party litigation claim. However, Rochon Genova continues to investigate the claims of those who were involved in the Oakridge programs.