Government Seeks Workers Comp Shelter in Humboldt Broncos Class Action

Families of the victims and others involved in the tragic 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash have joined forces to file a negligence class action lawsuit against the driver and government agencies. The government defendants have gone to the WCB seeking a ruling that the workers comp bar on negligence lawsuits for work injuries applies to at least some of those claims. So, the class members asked the Saskatchewan court to order the WCB to adjourn the claim until the lawsuit is resolved. But the court refused, noting that claims related to work injuries fall squarely within the jurisdiction of the workers comp system. ‘This Court has neither the authority nor the ability to attempt to impede the [government defendants’] access to the WCB,’ it concluded [Wasserman v Saskatchewan (Highways), 2021 SKQB 274 (CanLII), October 19, 2021].