LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST CITY
Death settlement ‘manipulation,’ siblings allege
The City of Ottawa is facing a lawsuit seeking $590,000 for the children of a pedestrian killed by an OC Transpo bus last fall.
The son and daughter allege they were manipulated into accepting confidential settlements for a fraction of that amount and releasing the city from liability.
The bus driver, David Thomas, 56, who has been charged with careless driving causing death, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
None of the allegations it contains have been tested in court.
Claude Levesque, 67, was struck by a bus while walking near his Russell Road apartment on Sept. 24, 2019. He died at the scene.
Levesque’s children — Gilles and Marie-Nathalie Levesque — received word of the fatal collision later that day. For months, though, during a police investigation, they say they were left without knowing what exactly led to their father’s death and if anyone would be held responsible.
“In the immediate aftermath of Claude Levesque’s violent death, with many questions unanswered (including but not limited to whether defendant Thomas would be charged),” the lawsuit says, Gilles and Marie-Nathalie signed releases for settlements of $5,000 and $10,000, respectively.
It alleges that, in securing those releases, a City of Ottawa claims investigator — also a named defendant — fell short of the city’s code of conduct and accountability policies around transparency and honesty and was intentionally and/ or negligently misrepresentative.
One example the lawsuit cites is a phone call with the claims investigator in which, it says, Marie-Nathalie asked: “Is this all my father’s life is worth?”
According to the lawsuit, the investigator ignored the question, “violating the employee code of conduct, which required her to answer, ‘If you sue the city, you will likely obtain much more, however $10,000 is all the city is prepared to pay at this time.’”
The lawsuit also alleges that the terms of the releases “are unconscionable, are the product of ‘bargaining’ between parties with unequal bargaining power and with vastly unequal levels of sophistication.”
Gilles Levesque has a Grade 7 education, while Marie-Nathalie finished Grade 10. Both have psychiatric disorders and rely on the Ontario Disability Support Program.
Further, the lawsuit alleges,
because the releases were signed immediately after their father’s death, “both plaintiffs … were as a matter of emotional upheaval incapable of engaging in meaningful bargaining or even assimilating the contents of the pieces of paper they were asked to sign.”
In a statement, the city noted that because it was served with the lawsuit Friday it could not comment on the specific allegations.
That said, “Legal services’ approach to all claims is to respond to these in a manner that is sensitive to the particular facts and circumstances of each case. Furthermore, the city’s standard practice in response to any claimant that approaches the city seeking compensation is to provide them with the opportunity to obtain independent legal advice prior to the execution of any release,” the city said.
“It must be noted that the city cannot provide legal advice or counsel to a claimant and must rely on the signing of the release as evidence that the claimant has taken the opportunity to consult with a lawyer ….
“The city will respond more fully in its statement of defence.”
The lawsuit is seeking an order to nullify the releases signed by the Levesques plus $590,000 in damages. That includes $250,000 from the city and the OC Transpo bus driver, whose “negligence” it alleges caused the death of Claude Levesque.
Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act says courts will consider the death of a “vulnerable” person — such as a pedestrian — as an “aggravating factor” in sentencing for careless driving causing death, which is punishable by a fine of between $2,000 and $50,000 and/or up to two years in prison and a possible licence suspension.