Downsview long-term care COVID-19 deaths now a certified class action

An Ontario Superior Court judge last week certified a class action against Downsview Long-Term Care Centre and its owner, Gem Healthcare Group, over COVID-19 outbreaks at the Toronto home. The claim alleges the outbreaks killed at least 244 people and infected at least 1,966, from late January 2020 to early May 2023.

Any resident, visitor or family member who contracted COVID-19 at Downsview during that period can now join the claim. The court has certified the common questions the case will turn on: whether the operators owed a duty of care, whether they breached it, and whether they were grossly negligent. The certified issues also cover causation, damages, and disgorgement of benefits and profits.

The defendants consented to certification and say they intend to defend themselves against the allegations, which have not been tested at trial.

The lead plaintiff, Billy Powell, says his mother, Zellora Graham, moved to Downsview in September 2017 after a hip fracture and was living with arthritis and using a walker. He says the family got little to no information during the outbreak after visitor restrictions took effect in March 2020. When he called on May 1, 2020, the home told him his mother was not doing well and suspected COVID-19. At hospital she tested positive, and a doctor described her as severely dehydrated and struggling to breathe, with a 20 per cent chance of survival. She died that May.

The Law Times reported that Justice found "some basis in fact" for the allegation that the outbreaks were preventable and that lives would have been saved. In a 2024 ruling, Pugliese v. Chartwell, Justice Edward Morgan certified some of eight proposed class actions against Ontario long-term care operators, describing the sector as "the epicentre of the pandemic," and recognized the gross-negligence cause of action this claim now relies on.