ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The lawyer for an inmate at a central Newfoundland prison — who claims he was unconscious when a corrections officer was video recorded performing dental work on him at a Gander dentist’s office — has officially filed a lawsuit.
In the claim, filed in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s Tuesday, lawyer Bob Buckingham names a number of individuals, as well as the government, claiming negligence against his client, Blair Harris.
The story was first reported by The Telegram earlier this month, but names hadn’t been made public at the time.
The statement of claim states that on Oct. 16, Harris was taken for dental surgery by Bishop's Falls Correctional Centre corrections officers Ron McDonald and Roy Goodyear to the Gander Family Dental Clinic, and during the surgery, performed by dental surgeon Dr. Louis Bourget, one of the corrections staff was permitted to perform a dental procedure while another corrections officer filmed it, and the corrections officers later distributed the video.
It states Harris was “put into a deep sedation” via intravenous sedative medicine, administered by Bourget. The surgery was completed while Harris was unconscious, it said.
Harris’s first recollection after the surgery, it added, was when he felt a bump on his head and a bruise on his cheek while being transported back to the prison.
The document said Harris was informed about the video by the prison’s assistant superintendent and the superintendent of prisons, Daniel Chafe.
On Nov. 20, Harris was advised that McDonald and Goodyear had been fired.
The lawsuit claims battery, assault and breach of trust against the corrections officers; professional negligence and a breach of contract against the oral surgeon and the oral surgeon’s office, Dr. L. Bourget Professional Dental Corporation (NL) Inc., and Dr. P. Redmond and Dr. A. Keefe professional dental corporation; breach of trust by the corrections services and the provincial government; as well as vicarious liability against the provincial government, as it is alleged to have happened while corrections officers were on duty.
Harris is seeking punitive damages, aggravated damages and exemplary damages.
When interviewed by The Telegram a few weeks ago, Buckingham had said upon hearing the allegations, “My first reaction was shock and disbelief.”
Buckingham said the video came to the attention of management, and the corrections officers have been terminated.
The RCMP is investigating the incident. No one has yet been charged.
Buckingham said an important component of this lawsuit will be to test the law on whether there is a positive duty for a corrections officer to stop another corrections officer who is causing a harm to an inmate.
He noted there have been numerous incidents of complaints against corrections officers in the province for assaulting inmates, some of which have resulted in charges, and others that have not been reported. However, whether a positive duty to stop an assault or harm exists has never been tested in civil courts here, he said.
Buckingham said he is looking forward to this issue being litigated and the legal precedent set in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Buckingham also represents the family of Jonathan Henoche, an inmate who died in segregation at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John's in November 2019, in lawsuits against the corrections officers, the prison and the provincial government.
Rosie Mullaley is a reporter in St. John’s.
