A court ruling that found the City of Saint John “vicariously liable” for the actions of a former police officer who sexually abused children will stand.
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday dismissed an application by the city for leave to appeal a lower court ruling.
New Brunswick’s Court of King’s Bench ruled in March 2023 that the city was not vicariously liable for harm caused by the late Kenneth Estabrooks.
That decision was overturned by the province’s Court of Appeal in September 2023 and the city filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Vicarious liability is when one party holds some responsibility for the actions of a third party.
The question was a key part of a class-action lawsuit filed by Saint John resident Robert Hayes in 2013.
John McKiggan, a lawyer who represented Hayes and the class members, said all that remains is to determine how much compensation the victims will get.
“Today’s decision from the Supreme Court of Canada vindicates Bobby Hayes’ long battle to hold the City of Saint John accountable for the decades of Kenneth Estabrooks’ sexual abuse of children while he was a Saint John City police officer,” McKiggan said in an email to our newsroom.
The suit claims that Estabrooks used his position as a police officer between 1953 and 1975 to sexually abuse a number of people.
It is alleged that he was transferred to the city works department when the incidents came to light and continued to sexually abuse people there until his retirement in 1983.
Private investigators hired by the city found 263 people, mostly boys, may have been sexually abused.
Estabrooks was convicted of four counts of indecent assault in 1999 and sentenced to six years in prison, where he died in 2005.
In a statement issued late Thursday, the city said it was just informed of the Supreme Court’s decision and will be getting advice on the next steps.
