Court extends deadline for Woodlands survivors' compensation claims

Formerpatients of the WoodlandsSchool inNew Westminsternow have another year to make their compensation claimsafter a judge ruled the complexity of the cases hasbogged down the process.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Baumangranted an extension to September 2013 for approval ofcompensation claims for residentswho were harmed at the institution after 1974 In a ruling issued Thursday.

Bauman noted that only nine precedent-setting claims had been decided out of more than 800 members in the class-action lawsuit.

It's the second time the court has extended the deadline after the original September 2011 claim compensation period.

Bauman says that such a complicated settlement process wasn't contemplated when the original deadline was given and he urged lawyers for the class to consider hiring another firm or firms to help speed up the process.

Hundreds of students endured sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of staff while in care at the Woodlands school, which closed in 1996.

About 900 former Woodlands residents are eligible for compensation, ranging from $3,000 to $150,000, depending on the abuse they suffered.

But the province isn't legally obligated to compensate people who were harmed at Woodlands before 1974, but the claimants' lawyer David Klein says a more streamlined process could be developed to recognize the suffering of all survivors.

The facilityfirst opened in 1878 as the Provincial Asylum for the Insane. In 1950 it was renamed Woodlands School and repurposed as a residential facility to house children with developmental disorders, and runaways and wards of the state.