Saskatoon organizations deny claims in lawsuit over boy’s drowning
While calling the accidental drowning of a kindergarten pupil “a tragedy,” the two organizations being sued by the boy ’s family deny any negligence or recklessness in the five-year-old boy’s death, according to their statements of defence.
The Saskatoon Public School Division and the City of Saskatoon have filed statements of defence in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, in response to a lawsuit filed in March.
The parents of Ahmedsadiq (Ahmed) Hussein Elmmi — who drowned in a storm-water-retention pond near Dundonald School on Sept. 11, 2017 — are suing the two organizations, claiming the school board and the city showed “outrageous disregard for safety” in the time leading up to their son’s death.
The claim seeks unspecified aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages.
Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been proven in court.
In its statement of defence, the school board says that, while “Ahmed’s death was a tragedy ... there are absolutely no facts or circumstances which would give rise to any basis for aggravated, punitive or exemplary damages.”
Ahmed had been diagnosed with autism and language delay. In its statement of defence, the school board says Ahmed “was known to be a ‘runner’ and to run off without regard for danger,” and that it had a safety plan that called for an adult to hold his hand during recess.
The statement says Ahmed ran on the playground, observed, from his educational assistant to join the line for the slide and then ran, unobserved, to the nearby stormretention pond. He was found later that morning in the pond about 100 metres from the school.
“The tragedy occurred despite the school’s dedicated efforts to plan for Ahmed and to manage his significant special needs,” the statement adds. “Its staff worked in good faith to develop a safety plan for Ahmed.”
In their claim, Ahmed’s parents say the city and school division “conducted themselves in a wilful, wanton and reckless manner.”
Both the city and school board’s statements of defence call those claims “scandalous, frivolous and/ or vexatious.”
The school board says there is no truth that the school “has ever shown an ‘outrageous disregard for safety and in particular the safety of Ahmed, special needs children like Ahmed, and children in general,’” as claimed in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by parents Hussein Elmmi and Fathiya Nour alleges the city “was aware or ought to have been aware that small children were frequently in the park and the storm-water-retention pond was inadequately secured against children entering it and coming to harm.”
The city’s statement of defence says signs were posted warning people to use the pond safely and that people using the pond do so at their own risk. The signage also contained warnings to obey all signs and directions, and to avoid direct contact with the water, including swimming and wading.
“The city denies that it was negligent, as alleged, or at all,” the statement adds.
…The stormwater-retention pond was inadequately secured against children entering it and coming to harm.
FROM STATEMENT OF CLAIM