Graham James, school division deny wrongdoing in sex abuse-claims

Convicted sex offender Graham James and the St. James Assiniboia School Division have denied wrongdoing in response to a lawsuit filed last fall by a man who alleges he was molested as a youngster by the notorious former junior hockey coach.

James is accused in the lawsuit of allegedly molesting the plaintiff while working as a substitute homeroom teacher at Strathmillan School in 1983, at the elementary school and elsewhere, when the alleged victim was 10.

Thunder Bay, Ont.-based lawyer Natalie Gerry filed the lawsuit in November in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on behalf of the alleged victim, who the Free Press isn’t naming due to the nature of the claims. The plaintiff is seeking $6.15 million in damages and lost ability to earn a living, as well as court costs and interest.

James, now 71, is known to have worked as a substitute teacher in the Winnipeg school division in the 1980s, despite not having a university degree.

The suit accuses the school division of knowing of James’s predatory behavior, claiming another teacher spotted James fondling the plaintiff, who is now about 50.

The November court filings claim the division breached its duty to the plaintiff and was negligent and vicariously liable.

The school division said it has no record of employing James as a substitute at the school in a statement of defence filed by Bernice Bowley of city law firm Fillmore Riley LLP in late February.

Any alleged contact between the plaintiff and James was outside of the scope of a substitute teacher’s role, so it should not be considered liable, the division argues.

“The division denies any intentional wrongful conduct, denies liability for punitive and exemplary damages, and says that the plaintiffs’ allegations against the division are unjustified, frivolous, vexatious, and merit an award of solicitor and client costs against him,” the division’s defence reads. It also asks the court to turf the lawsuit.

The defence papers also said the division did not have knowledge of the allegations of wrongdoing levied directly against James in the November suit.

The division also denied knowing James would have been unqualified to teach or that he had been previously accused of sex crimes against minors.

The plaintiff’s claims about the division’s breach of duty and negligence, among other claims, are subject to the provincial Limitations Act, meaning the suit shouldn’t proceed, the division said.

St. James also said its hiring, screening, training and monitoring of substitutes met the standards of the time.

The school division also filed a cross claim against James, seeking contribution or indemnification for any amount of money the division is found liable, costs for defending the action and the cross claim, and other financial relief the court deems just.

Any loss or damages the plaintiff suffered would be solely the fault of James, the cross claim said.

James, who has been criminally convicted of sexually assaulting five former hockey players, also denied wrongdoing in his own February statement of defence.

“James states that the allegations … are fabricated, false and without foundation or merit,” reads the court papers, filed by Winnipeg lawyer Stephan Thliveris of Holloway Thliveris LLP.

James claims not to have any recollection of working as a substitute at Strathmillan School, conceding only that he taught middle and high school classes at the St. James division and other divisions.

His court papers claim he never met or encountered the plaintiff while as a teacher or otherwise, or the plaintiff’s sister, who the alleged victim claimed James had encouraged to touch the boy’s genitals.

James’s court documents accuse the plaintiff of demonstrating a lack of diligence in making his legal claim and asked the court to dismiss it with costs.

Former high-level hockey players Sheldon Kennedy, Theoren Fleury and Todd Holt have all publicly shared their ordeals; the identities of two others are protected by publication bans. Police have estimated the true number of victims is between 25 and 100.

Most of the assaults occurred in Swift Current, Sask., during the eight years James was coach and general manager of its Western Hockey League club.

James’s formative teen years were spent in the St. James area.

He began coaching minor hockey and substitute teaching in the west Winnipeg neighbourhood in the late 1970s, before moving on to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and later, the WHL.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca