A prison inmate (“Farrows-Shelley”), sued Correctional Services Canada (“CSC”) in negligence for allegedly allowing him to be double bunked with an individual who, Farrows-Shelley suspected, was known to have proclivities to violence and to be infected with hepatitis C and HIV. The Federal Court of Canada dismissed the action, holding that there was no evidence to establish a violent tendency on the part of Leonard Welch, and that there was no evidence that he was indeed infected with hepatitis C and HIV. The court refused to accept the argument of the Plaintiff that this should be a test case to expand the law, in recognising a duty to warn as distinct from a duty to protect.
Administrative law – Prisons – Dangerous prisoners – Duty to protect – Duty to warn Farrows-Shelley v. Canada, [2003] F.C.J. No. 574, Federal Court of Canada – Trial Division, April 8, 2003, Aronovitch, Prothonotary The court quoted the decision of Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto (Municipality) Commissioners of Police, [1998] O.J. No. 2681, wherein the ...