Members of the 2013/2014 University of Ottawa men’s hockey team have launched a class-action lawsuit against the school for the damages they suffered during an investigation into sexual assault allegations last year.
Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon announced that all players from that team, except for the two players who ended up being charged following an investigation by Thunder Bay police, are included in the suit.
The statement of claim says the players are seeking some $4 million in general damages for breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, misfeasance in public office and other claims, and another $2 million in punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages.
Greenspon told reporters Tuesday that the players are seeking compensation “for what they have and what they will continue to suffer” due to the school’s investigation.
“Sexual assault is a serious crime, but since offenders carry a huge stigma it is particularly important to make sure that innocent people aren’t accused,” Greenspon said.
“It is unconscionable for the university to tarnish the reputation of its student athletes in the manner that they did, when they knew that these students were not involved. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about investigating sexual assault. This was the wrong way.”
The lawsuit stems from an alleged sexual assault that occurred while the Gee-Gees varsity hockey team was in Thunder Bay for two weekend games against Lakehead University.
On Feb. 2, 2014 a 21-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by two Ottawa team members at their Thunder Bay hotel.
On Mar. 3, university president Allan Rock called a press conference to announce that the team would be suspended for the remainder of the season and to announce that an internal investigation was underway.
In June, Rock held another press conference to announce that the school’s internal investigation had been completed and the team’s suspension would be extended into the 2014-15 season.
The team’s head coach was also fired because he did not immediately inform school officials immediately upon learning of the incident.
A separate, independent investigation also looked at the events in Thunder Bay, and whether the players’ behaviour met the university’s standards.
“A dark shadow of suspicion was thrown over all the players, even though the university already knew at that point the identities of the two players alleged to have been involved in an assault,” Greenspon said Tuesday.
Following an investigation by Thunder Bay police, two players were charged in August: Guillaume Donovan, 24, and David Foucher, 25.
Former player Andrew Creppin told reporters that he suffered from anxiety and had trouble sleeping after the allegations first became public.
“After that, it was like a dark shadow had been cast over us, especially in the public,” Creppin said Tuesday.
“It was hard for us to even wear our coats out in public without being ridiculed.”
Creppin said he was not at the team’s hotel at the time of the alleged assault. He was with a handful of other teammates that had taken a teammate to a nearby hospital.
“They threw us all under the bus,” he said of the school.
The university has said it will rebuild its hockey program and put in place “improved policies, including new behaviour guidelines for student-athletes.”
