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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 15 June 2007 CBC News reported “Driskell's civil suit can proceed mostly intact, judge rules”

Most of James Driskell's $20-million civil lawsuit against police and justice officials over"the Winnipeg man's"wrongful conviction can stand, a Manitoba judge has ruled.

Driskell, 48, spent more than 12 years in prison for the 1991 murder of Perry Dean Harder. He always maintained his innocence, and his conviction was eventually quashed in 2005 by then federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.

The lawsuit, filed by Driskell and his mother, Florence, seeks $20 million in compensation from the Crown attorneys in his case, the attorney general of Manitoba, the City of Winnipeg and senior police officers, including current Winnipeg police Chief Jack Ewatski. It claims negligence, on the part of both Crown attorneys and police, in matters of disclosure of evidence during the Driskell case.

Lawyers for many of the defendants had made motions to strike large parts of the lawsuit.

"At the end of the day, Mr. Driskell has to be pleased, because all of the causes of action remain intact and will be left to be dealt with if this case isn't resolved sooner at a trial by a trial judge," said David Robins, one of Driskell's lawyers.

Justice Shawn Greenberg decided most of the claims could stand, although she did strike some of the wording in the lawsuit and part of Florence Driskell's claim.

May 'open the floodgates' to more claims

Jay Prober, the lawyer for former Crown attorney George Dangerfield, says it is troubling that Greenberg did not drop parts of the suit concerning negligence on the part of Crown attorneys that fail to disclose information to defence lawyers. "We're concerned that it's going to open the floodgates to a plethora of claims against prosecutors for negligence," he said.

Prober cautioned that the case is not at the trial stage and the decisions should not be considered judgments in Driskell's favour. All of the defendants will meet to consider appealing the rulings, he said. In February, the report of an inquiry into the Driskell case blamed Winnipeg police and prosecutors for his wrongful conviction. The report, released in February, said the jury in Driskell's trial had been "seriously misled" on issues"— including the reliability of a key Crown witness"— and described the failure of the Crown to disclose information to the defence as "careless indifference."

After the report was released, Driskell received an apology from the province and a "good faith" payment of $250,000 while other compensation issues are resolved.

Source: 15 June 2007 CBC News “Driskell's civil suit can proceed mostly intact, judge rules”

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