May 17, 2010
A hearing requesting that this
action be certified as a class action has been scheduled for May 31, June
1 and 2, 2010. The hearing will commence at 10:00 a.m. on May 31, 2010 at
the Vancouver Courthouse, 800 Smithe Street. Poyner Baxter will be
requesting that the action be certified on behalf of a class described as
follows:
All persons, resident in British
Columbia, who claim to have been billed fees by, and to have paid fees to,
during the period commencing July 30, 2003 and ending July 30, 2009, the
Board of Education of School District No. 39 (Vancouver) for instruction
in summer school courses leading to graduation.”
If you are a B.C. resident and
have paid fees for summer school sessions prior to 2007, you may be
entitled to a refund. Contact Poyner Baxter LLP, Barristers & Solicitors,
at
classaction@poynerbaxter.com or (604) 988-6321, ext. 5 to learn more.
August 23, 2009
Poyner Baxter has
launched a suit in B.C. Supreme Court against the Vancouver board of
education seeking the return of the fees paid by a single family before
the province deemed the charges illegal in 2007. The amount in question is
just $274, but lawyer Jim Poyner plans to expand the suit into a class
action on behalf of the hundreds or thousands of families who paid summer
school fees in Vancouver between 2004 and 2006. To read the Statement of
Claim, please click
here.
Jim Poyner plans to start similar suits against the other dozen or so
school districts in the province that have charged fees. Both North and
West Vancouver are on the list.
According to Jim Poyner's numbers, North Vancouver School District 44
levied some $2.6 million from families for summer school courses offered
between 2003 and 2006, while West Vancouver took in close to $700,000 over
the same period. "What the school districts have been doing is against the
law," said Poyner. "I can't see a defence to it, quite frankly, and I've
been at this business for over 40 years."
In 2007, then-Minister of Education Shirley Bond said school districts
that had been charging for summer courses needed for graduation had been
breaking the law. Bond ordered school districts to refund parents
for fees collected in 2007 -- a sum estimated at about $10 million -- and
promised the province would compensate the districts for the expense.
None of the fees charged in the years prior to that have been refunded,
however. It is those that Poyner is going after. And Poyner has no
intention of stopping there. If his action succeeds, he plans to launch a
second wave of lawsuits seeking the reimbursement of all school fees
charged prior to Bond's declaration.
To read the full text of recent North Shore News articles regarding
this issue, click
here for the August 23, 2009 article and
here for the article of August 12, 2009.
If you have paid summer school fees in any school
district in B.C. and would like more information, please contact Poyner
Baxter by email at
classaction@poynerbaxter.com
or at (604) 988-6321, ext 5.
In July 2007, Education Minister Shirley Bond ordered
BC school boards to comply with the School Act and refund fees paid for the
2007 summer school session. Parents may also be entitled to the return of
summer school fees paid in prior years; however, no further refunds have
been ordered by the Ministry.
If you are a B.C. resident and have paid fees for
summer school sessions prior to 2007, you may be entitled to a refund.
Contact Poyner Baxter LLP,
Barristers & Solicitors, at
classaction@poynerbaxter.com or (604) 988-6321, ext. 5 to learn more.
