You can be self-represented and sue the CAS but I recommend that you hire a Lawyer on a limited scope retainer to assist you with preparing your Statement of Claim. You may also consider hiring a litigation coach on a limited scope retainer to assist you with preparing your argument at court.
The CAS will not negotiate with you and it will resist paying you any sort of money for having wronged you. It will want a court to order that you can’t have your case heard by a judge at trial or in other words it will want to have your claim struck. It will argue that it doesn’t owe you a duty of care and that it only owes the child a duty of care. You may want to sue on behalf of your child but you will need to sue in the name of a litigation guardian for the child. You may feel that you have been personally wronged but the law is not clear as to whether you have a right to be compensated monetarily for having been wronged.
However, the law in respect of finding a CAS negligent and/or acting in bad faith is evolving. It is very important that you have a lawyer prepare your Statement of Claim who can assist you with setting out precisely why you feel wronged and why a court should order that you should be compensated with money. It is true that CAS employees are protected against personal liability for any act done in good faith execution or intended execution of their duties. This immunity can only be displaced if you can show bad faith, malice or intentional wrongdoing on the part of CAS employees. If you can show that the society worker was biased, that he/she deliberately ignored pertinent information, knowingly filed a false and misleading affidavit, refrained from following up with collaterals, or demonstrated malice towards you then you may be successful in suing the CAS and being compensated monetarily. But, the court will and can strike out your claim if it doesn’t think that you have a reasonable prospect of succeeding.
Therefore, it is very important that you consider hiring a lawyer on a limited scope retainer, at the very least, to assist you with properly drafting your documents and assisting you with your argument before proceeding to sue the CAS.
Written by Lynn Kirwin. Family Law lawyer at Galbraith Family Law. To book a consultation with Lynn, please click here.