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The Canadian government has been required to pay $1.12 million to compensate plaintiffs for legal fees stemming from a prison segregation class action lawsuit.
A court ruled in favor of a former inmate who claimed that he had been wrongly held in administrative segregation by Correctional Services, and that the segregation caused him harm.
The Canadian federal government, who are defendants in the prison segregation class action lawsuit, had attempted to argue that the plaintiffs’ claim for legal fees was excessive.
However, a judge determined that the government’s argument for a reduction in legal fees was too weak, especially given that they had not provided specific examples to show that the former inmate had over-lawyered.
The prison segregation class action lawsuit was filed by Jullian Reddock in March 2017. Reddock is a former inmate who says that Correctional Services excessively used administrative segregation on him and other inmates.
According to the National Post, Reddock claims that he was not allowed to leave his cell for days at a time, and took too many anti-anxiety pills as a result of the segregation.
The National Post explains that “administrative segregation involves isolating inmates for safety reasons if authorities believe there is no reasonable alternative.” Reddock claims that many inmates like himself were segregated unnecessarily.
The National Post also notes that courts have accepted some critics’ claims that administrative segregation can cause serious psychological harm and represents a form of cruel punishment, as Reddock claimed the practice caused him.
A court did rule in Reddock’s favor, and determined the government should be held liable for Reddock’s legal fees. Reddock had requested $1.24 million in legal fees, which Ottawa claimed was too much. Ottawa called the fees disproportionate and excessive.
Reddock’s prison segregation class action lawsuit was recently separated from another similar lawsuit, which took issue with administrative segregation of inmates with mental illnesses. The same lawyers were representing plaintiffs in both cases.
In taking issue with the choice to separate the segregation class action lawsuits, the government called the litigation approach “duplicitous” and “unreasonable” saying that the separation of the two cases was a way for Reddock to claim more in legal fees.
However, Superior Court Justice Paul Perell claimed that the segregation class action lawsuits should indeed be separated because they were substantially different.
Judge Perell rejected the government’s arguments, claiming that the government did not specify the ways in which the legal costs requested were excessive. Additionally, the judge did note that the government likely spent just as much as Reddock on legal fees.
According to the judge, the government should have been more specific when claiming that Reddock’s costs were too high. He said, “when an unsuccessful party does not file a bill of costs but alleges over-lawyering, courts are very skeptical about the allegations.”
Judge Perell did reduce the legal fees for Reddock by $113,000, noting that there was some overlap in representation for the two prison segregation class action lawsuits.
New legislation set to take effect on Nov. 30 is intended to mitigate the issue of prison segregation.
Have you been subjected to unnecessary segregation? Share your story with us in the comments below.
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