A law firm based in Alberta has filed a national class action lawsuit against the federal government over injuries from the COVID-19 vaccines.
The lawsuit, which still needs to be certified by a court, potentially covers the whole country with the exception of Quebec, which has its own civil law system, said Leighton Grey, a lawyer at Grey Wowk Spencer LLP.
“We’ve had tremendous response, we’ve had about 1,300 people already respond and want to be part of the lawsuit,” Mr. Grey told The Epoch Times. “And we think that’s going to grow.”
The “representative plaintiff” is a woman in her 30s from St. Albert, just outside Edmonton.
Mr. Grey said the woman suffered “a pretty severe reaction” to her first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. She was convinced by her doctor to get a second shot, and her reaction to that was worse.
“Since then she’s had a whole series of health problems, everything from skin rashes … but the most serious one is that she has fainting spells,” he said. “She has unpredictable fainting spells where she falls … and she hurts herself.”
He said the condition has left the married mother of two virtually unable to work. Before receiving the vaccine, she had been a professional massage therapist and a yoga instructor.
“Especially the second injection made it impossible for her to work because of course, she’s living in constant fear of having one of her fainting spells,” said Mr. Grey.
“Unfortunately, right now, we can’t directly pierce the indemnity. So that’s why our lawsuit has not sued the pharmaceutical companies,” he said.
Before others can join the class action lawsuit, a judge has to certify that it meets conditions, such as whether it has a reasonable cause of action, and whether it’s an issue of broad public concern.
Mr. Grey said it could be a year or more before the lawsuit passes the certification process, and there is no guarantee it will.
There is also a separate class action lawsuit—also filed in Alberta—against the provincial and federal governments, as well as several individual lawsuits over injuries people believe were caused by the vaccines, he said.
It’s possible some of the lawsuits could end up being joined and move through the courts that way.
“But that hasn’t been determined yet. That’s the type of thing that’s going to be decided as part of case management,” said Mr. Grey.
He is certain the federal government will argue there is no case.
“There’s no doubt that … the defendants are going to challenge certification in terms of there being no reasonable cause of action,” he said.
“I think we’re going to see legislatures begin to restrict their availability … and I think as those legislative changes happen, I think that'll impact the way the courts look at these cases,” he said.
For its part, Health Canada maintains the COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and serious side effects are rare.
It adds that while possible side effects can include Bell’s Palsy, blood clots, Guillame-Barre syndrome, and myocarditis, “serious reactions following vaccination are rare.”
The next public report is June 1, 2024.
