Some Humboldt Broncos families angry over lawyer's request to delay one lawsuit until another is ready

A battle between lawsuits related to the Humboldt Broncos bus crash is to be heard in a Regina courtroom this week.

Eleven lawsuits were filed after the April 6, 2018 crash. Sixteen people died and 13 were injured when the driver of a semi-truck blew a stop sign and drove into the path of the junior hockey team's bus near Tisdale, Sask.

Lawyers for a proposed class-action lawsuit that is awaiting certification plan to ask a judge Friday to delay a separate lawsuit filed by five of the victims' families until the class-action certification is complete.

Some of the families are frustrated by the possible delay. 

"We want to put certain pieces of this behind us," said Chris Joseph, whose 20-year-old son, Jaxon, died in the crash. 

"When they get dragged out longer and longer, it just makes it harder and harder. It causes more pain," said Joseph, who is also a former NHL player.

The proposed class action so far includes the families of 24-year-old Dayna Brons, the team's athletic therapist from Lake Lenore, Sask., who died in hospital after the crash, and injured goalie Jacob Wassermann, 21, from Humboldt, Sask.

The suit names the Saskatchewan government, the inexperienced truck driver who caused the crash and the Calgary-based company that employed him.

Delay about fairness, lawyer says

Vancouver lawyer John Rice who is representing the class-action plaintiffs said the request for a stay or delay, is about fairness.

"In situations where numerous claimants are harmed from the same event — and where the legal findings in one proceeding could impact all the others — the court needs to strike a balance between the competing interests of individual litigants to ensure that the most efficient and just process is adopted," Rice said.

"In these awful circumstances, in this application, the court is being asked to exercise the 'least-worst' option, which is to press pause on the progress of one action until the application for certification is heard."

Kevin Mellor, the Regina lawyer for the other lawsuit, said a delay would put his clients' claim at risk.

He represents the Joseph family as well as the families of Adam Herold, 16, of Monmartre, Sask.; Logan Hunter, 18, of St. Albert, Alta.; Jacob Leicht, 19, of Humboldt, Sask.; and assistant coach Mark Cross, 27, of Strasbourg, Sask. They all died as a result of the crash.

The certification hearing in set for April of 2022.

Truck driver's possible deportation an issue

That lawsuit, in addition to naming the Saskatchewan government, the driver and his employer, also lists the bus company as a defendant.

Mellor said Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years in prison for causing the crash, but could be deported to India before their lawsuit gets to trial.

"If the class action is going to delay ... they're going to miss out on material evidence because this guy will be deported," Mellor said.

"We need to giddy-up and go."

Sharon Fox, Mellor's co-counsel, said their clients shouldn't be punished because they were first to file a lawsuit.

"We filed our claim in July 2018, three months after the crash happened," Fox said.

"We have been at this for almost two years," she said. "They're trying to hold us back, put us on the sidelines, so they can catch up. We're saying that's not fair and that's going to impact our client's ability to prove our case."

Their clients also don't want to put their healing on hold any longer, she said.

An affidavit from Herold's father, Russ Herold, was filed in advance of Friday's hearing.

"I feel I will suffer psychological harm if my lawsuit is delayed," he said in the document.

"I want to advance my lawsuit to hold responsible those that should be held responsible for my son's death."

Lawyers for the Saskatchewan government recently argued in court that, because of the province's no-fault insurance, it should be struck as a defendant from the class action. A judge has not yet ruled on that application.