Article Analysis: Punitive and Exemplary Damages in Kirk Keeping's Lawsuit against Training Schools

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ARTICLE ANALYSIS
In this case, Kirk Keeping is a man trying to bring a class action lawsuit against
province's now-defunct training school for allegedly badly abusing him and others at the
schools. The case was filed December 6th, 2018 on the claim that students that resided in the
training schools between Jan. 1, 1953, and April 2, 1984, were abused and others were forced
to beat up on other children or meted out physical punishment themselves .It has now turned
into a group that could go beyond 21,000 former residents of the 13 branches of the
institution. A trial judge allowed the case against the training schools to proceed as a class
action lawsuit in an effort to eliminate the need for a two-day hearing that had been scheduled
for a week later. The court has taken the cases and will soon be receiving oral statements
from both the claimants and the defendant. A former Quebec judge argued that in 2002,
Ontario had reached a settlement with the survivors of three institutions. This included St.
Joseph's, St. John's and Grandview
Punitive damages and Exemplary damages
Punitive and exemplary damages are the major categories that apply in these cases.
Exemplary damages alone are considered to be limited based on the circumstances within
these cases. Therefore punitive damages can be applied based on the fact that there were
allegations of “oppressive, arbitrary and unconstitutional activities that were exercised by a
servant of government” (Eisenberg 5-18).
We can base our argument on the case of Das v George Weston Limited, 2017 to state
that the conducts complied were oppressive and unconstitutional which can be termed as

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misconducts. Also in Holne v Constable of Lancashire was ruled that it was unconstitutional
for the forced imprisonment towards the claimants, in the sense that, it was wrongful for the
police officers to conduct wrongful arrests irrespective of the fact that there was the absence
of oppressive behaviors (Eisenberg 331)
Reference to these cases, another principle is where the accused appears to have
calculated the conduct. It is always important to show the law that the law cannot be broken
without impunity, where the accused has organised his actions which might possibly inflict
damage to the victim. Therefore, if the tort was committed in relation to the incident alleged
by Mr. Keeping, that would be would be sufficient to claim a higher compensation but it
cannot amount to $ 600 million.
Eisenberg, Theodore, et al. (615) states that “the purpose of exemplary damages is to
deter and in its absence, the punitive damages should also extend to psychological torture as
it a clear public interest in punishing and deterring bad behaviors of such nature, which merits
offering accession to the claimants.” Awarding of $ 600 million of punitive and exemplary
damages can be anchored on the idea that the psychological harm on the plaintiff was
increased because some of the students were forced to beat the fellow student, where some of
them die. Therefore, the plaintiff should only be compensated specifically for the additional
harm that was caused by the Ontario government due to the reprehensible conducts
(Rendleman, 923).
The reprehensible nature of the defendants conducts caused loss of lives, additional
psychological torture, and humiliation of the former students .While the court might separate
punitive damages and exemplary damages from the general damages, in these cases, they are
not separate in principle (Yapp 18). Therefore, they can only be assessed as part of the
general damages that were inflicted on the students.