With appeal rejected, hazing abuse class-action lawsuit against QMJHL to go ahead

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

The Quebec Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal against the authorization of a class-action lawsuit involving the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and its teams over hazing abuse.

In a decision today, Justice Sophie Lavallee says the appeal by the QMJHL, the league's 18 teams and its umbrella organization — the Canadian Hockey League — did not meet the strict criteria needed to end the lawsuit.

The class action was filed last year by Carl Latulippe, a former Quebec minor hockey star who went public with alleged abuse suffered while playing for two teams in the mid-1990s.

The lawsuit authorized by Quebec Superior Court on April 10 seeks $650,000 for Latulippe in damages, including pain, suffering and humiliation, as well as lost productivity and therapy costs, and seeks another $15 million to be shared among other alleged victims.

The league had appealed on the grounds that the main applicant, Latulippe, had no link to "almost the totality" of the teams targeted in the lawsuit.

Lavallee says the Superior Court judge did not make errors in law and that details of which party is jointly responsible for damages will be debated later.

Those covered in the class action are "all hockey players who have experienced abuse while they were minors and playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League" since July 1, 1969. The league was renamed the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League last year.

Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence