# Lawsuit concerns halt East Kootenay search and rescue teams



## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/15/bc-search-rescue-service-suspended.html

_Three search and rescue teams in B.C.'s East Kootenay region suspended service over the weekend after a lawsuit linked to the death of a Quebec woman raised concerns about liability and insurance.

According to officials with the Provincial Emergency Program, the volunteer search and rescue teams in Kimberley, Fernie and Golden all suspended service. Organizers indicated the action was linked to a lawsuit filed last month by Gilles Blackburn against the Golden and District Search and Rescue Association for the death of his wife Marie-Josée Fortin.

Fortin died of hypothermia about seven days after the couple skied out of bounds while at the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in February. Blackburn was rescued two days later.

Blackburn claims in the lawsuit launched on May 8 that he suffered serious physical and psychological injuries because the Golden and District Search and Rescue Association, as well as the RCMP and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, failed to initiate a ground search when SOS signals stamped in the snow were reported by a local helicopter company.

Officials with the Provincial Emergency Program said it's the first time anyone can remember a volunteer search and rescue society being sued, and that has triggered a scramble to check insurance policies.

On Monday morning, the search and rescue society in Kimberley voted to restore service after it checked its insurance policies. President Peter Reid told CBC News the lawsuit sent an important message.

"The big message is, that there does appear to be a situation in the Canadian legal system that will allow a subject to sue societies for something that happens operationally, so we better have insurance, we better be covered, because if we are not, it can all affect us personally," said Reid.

In Fernie, the society board has resigned, but some individual members said they will still participate in searches if called upon.

In Golden, the society withdrew all of its equipment, including helmets, ropes, and trucks, and said it will be up to individual members to decide whether to take part in a search.

The province will pay for insurance to cover individual searchers, but only about half of the province's 80 search and rescue societies carry third-party liability insurance. Officials insist the public has not been put at risk because of service withdrawals, as neighbouring search and rescue teams are available in emergencies._


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Geoff Empey said:


> _Fortin died of hypothermia about seven days* after the couple skied out of bounds *while at the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in February. Blackburn was rescued two days later._


It's their own fault and has happened before.


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## Tina Rempel (Feb 13, 2008)

Stupid people sueing over the ramifications of the stupid thing they did. [-X [-( I have no sympathy for the stupid people and lots of sympathy for the SAR groups being put through that BS. (Okay, a little sympathy) I'm going to sound like Jeff in a minute...... :-# :-$


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Not sure of procedure up in BC but the good teams down here aren't involved until requested by LE. 
If that's the case I don't see how the SAR team can be held responsable for the delay. JMO!
Has to be more going on here...as usual with any news report.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Anyone even remotely asscociated will be mentioned in a lawsuit.

The main thing was the claim that the RCMP didn't react fast enough because someone reported seeing SOS in the snow.


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## Will Kline (Jan 10, 2008)

Isn't there a STUPIDITY clause in Canadian law somewhere? You know...if you are a dumb a** and get hurt it's your own damned fault and you should get over it? This is why good people decide NOT to get involved in activities. So he has "helped" reduce the possibility of a future rescue! What a selfish A** Clown!!

To bad he didn't freeze as well! Oops...did I say that in my out loud voice?:-s


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

I agree that yes it was from their own stupidity that the wife expired. 

Perhaps the RCMP should be considering laying charges for Criminal Neglegence Resulting in Death for taking his wife into an area that was clearly closed. This makes a lot more sense to me than suing the volunteer rescuers.


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## Guest (Jun 16, 2009)

Bob Scott said:


> Not sure of procedure up in BC but the good teams down here aren't involved until requested by LE.
> If that's the case I don't see how the SAR team can be held responsable for the delay. JMO!
> Has to be more going on here...as usual with any news report.


exactly


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

This is big news in my town and our SAR community. For the record, our SAR group has disolved the BOD, but are still responding to callouts, and have done so in the last week. I live in the region mentioned in the article, but not the SAR group being sued though I know the dog handlers on that team well and they are great. This post is from a local board and does a fair job of explaining the issues facing SAR in our province at present:

From:http://www.ourfernie.com/forums/dude-sueing-search-rescue

_There is a clearly a grey area in this case, regarding why a search took so long to be initiated. However, just so people have the facts, SAR groups cannot initiate a search, they can only do so if tasked by a government agency, typically the RCMP. As such, Golden SAR responded when tasked, and indeed rescued the guy. They could not have responded earlier. Furthermore, as a voluntary organization they have no obligation to respond. Doubtless, the case at least against Golden SAR will be thrown out.

However, what this case has highlighted, for those who want to know more about the dry details, and ignoring whether this person should take responsibility for their own actions is the following:-

- Although the law provides a civil liability exemption for volunteer rescuers tasked by the province responding in emergencies - at the first test case (ie this case) the province has decided that this does not extend to SAR societies and their Directors;
- SAR societies were set up for only one reason - because it is a provincial requirement that you need to be a non-profit society to be able to receive the government grants that pay for trucks, radios, first aid equipment - that material would not exist without the grants, and SAR would be pretty useless without it;
- To be a a Society you must have Directors;
- SAR Directors are still volunteers, but who take on an additional burden of paperwork, Canada Revenue reporting, GST filing and other tedious stuff, in addition to training, being-called out etc;
- Now it would appear that taking on the additional voluntary work can expose those individuals to financial ruin if sued in a major case. Unless you are crazy, that seems a pretty unappealing deal in return for offering the province free rescue services.
- The province claims it cannot cover SAR societies because it has "no legal relationship" with them. It pays them money every time they respond in a rescue, but it has no legal relationship with them, apparently. If they wanted to, it would not take more than a quick memo to create the relationship needed, so it seems that this boring argument is being used to avoid helping volunteers, rather than exploring how to give them support.
- Third party liablity insurance exists, is expensive and is used by Fernie SAR, as it covers the usual accidents in the workplace for members kind of stuff. However, in the case of a major operational suit, it has a limit that could easily be exceeded, and would then fall onto the personal assets of the Directors.
- It is the legal opinion of lawyers outside of those retained by the province that the civil liability exemption enshrined in law also extends to SAR socieites and their Directors, but the province refuses to discuss this, even though it would immediately resolve this concern.

So Fernie SAR's board of Directors has resigned until this issue is resolved. This is not especially about the case against Golden - people can sue who they want, if they really want to, even if it makes them look like jerks. It has highlighted a weakness in the system that SAR groups were not aware of.

It is about whether the province is willing to look after its volunteers. Would you want to be a Director of Search and Rescue if you could be wiped out personally?_


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