Current, former LPS chiefs yet to respond to Shannon Phillips lawsuit

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Multiple 12 months after Lethbridge MLA Shannon Phillips launched a $400,000 civil go well with over searches by Lethbridge police she claims violated her rights, the present chief and his predecessor have but to reply to the allegations.

The NDP MLA filed the courtroom motion in November 2022 in Lethbridge Court docket of King’s Bench towards three Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) law enforcement officials, a civilian worker, present LPS chief Shahin Mehdizadeh and former chief Robert Davis — who headed the police service in 2018 when the searches had been made — in addition to a Jane Doe and John Doe not identified to Phillips.

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Whereas the three officers and the civilian worker have since filed statements defending themselves, statements have but to be filed on behalf of both Davis and Mehdizadeh.

LPS stated Monday an announcement of defence on behalf of the 2 police chiefs and the Metropolis of Lethbridge, which can also be named within the lawsuit, might be filed “sooner or later” through the courtroom course of.

“The Lethbridge Police Service has no intention of settling on this matter and can vigorously defend towards Ms. Phillips’ declare,” stated the LPS in Monday’s assertion to Postmedia.

LPS identified Mehdizadeh is just named within the civil go well with as a placeholder for the service, not for any particular person actions. The lawsuit says the searches occurred between Jan. 9 and Nov. 29, 2018, however Mehdizadeh solely grew to become Lethbridge’s police chief in August 2020.

Phillips, who was the NDP’s surroundings minister on the time of the 2018 searches, came upon her identify had been searched by LPS on Dec. 6, 2020, when she discovered the outcomes of a Freedom of Info and Safety of Privateness (FOIP) request, the declare states.

The lawsuit alleges officers Joel Odorski, Derek Riddel and Ross Bond, and civilian worker Allyson Dunsmore breached the Prison Code, together with a cost of “fraud or breach of belief by public officer.”

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Together with lack of repute, Phillips skilled ache and struggling, infringement of Parliamentary Privilege, signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction and an “lack of ability to belief her non-public data is protected within the palms of regulation enforcement,” the lawsuit claims.

The declare seeks common damages of $300,000, aggravated damages of $50,000, one other $50,000 for breaching Phillips’ constitution rights and unspecified punitive damages towards every particular person defendant.

4 defendants asking courtroom to dismiss declare

In separate statements every filed on July 4, 2023, Odorski, Riddel and Bond say they searched Phillips’s identify as a part of their duties and deny Phillips has suffered any harm or loss attributable to their actions. Additionally they deny that the identify searches had been executed for any private or unlawful goal and that they abused their authority. Dunsmore additionally denies any wrongdoing in her assertion, which was filed earlier this month, on Jan. 15.

The 4 defendants, every represented by Edmonton lawyer Dan Scott, say the allegations are “frivolous” and “vexatious,” and are asking the courtroom to dismiss the declare with prices.

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“If and to the extent the plaintiff has suffered any lack of repute, which isn’t admitted however denied, then any such loss is the results of the plaintiff’s personal actions in placing the alleged breaches into the general public discussion board by media and social media,” say all 4 statements of defence.

Const. Riddel, who was a bail officer in November 2018, says in his assertion he did an preliminary search of Phillips’s identify after receiving “admittedly obscure data from a confidential informant alleging the plaintiff had ‘LPS in her pocket’ and had apparently averted being charged with an offence sooner or later previously.”

However Riddel, who retired from the LPS in November 2021, says in his assertion he didn’t really entry any police file associated to Phillips. He says he was interrupted and moved on to a distinct job, and determined towards revisiting the inquiry “as a result of obscure nature of the data he had obtained.”

Const. Bond, who retired from the LPS in October 2018, says he was reviewing older recordsdata in February 2018 to see if that they had been accomplished, and as a part of that assessment wanted to entry a file from 2016. That 12 months, he was a part of the LPS site visitors unit and investigated a motorcar collision Phillips had been concerned in.

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“The file assessment was executed within the regular course to find out if an open file was accomplished and might be closed,” says Bond’s assertion of defence, which doesn’t state whether or not the file was in reality accomplished.

Const. Odorski, who voted for Phillips within the 2015 and 2019 provincial elections, says he noticed “sure statements” on-line “shortly earlier than March 5, 2018” in regards to the MLA and an “alleged police investigation into her private life.” He states he was involved that the individual making the feedback may be a present LPS member who had accessed a number of LPS recordsdata associated to Phillips.

However Odorski didn’t have sufficient data to make a proper grievance in regards to the LPS member to the service’s Skilled Requirements Unit. Odorski then did a “transient” search to find out if one other police officer had probably breached a provincial statute or LPS coverage, however didn’t discover something to corroborate his concern and dropped the matter, says his assertion.

Dunsmore, who in 2018 was assigned to the LPS FOIP unit, states that, as far she will keep in mind, she didn’t search any file referring to the plaintiff on the request of any of the opposite defendants, and in her place had little contact with law enforcement officials.

— With recordsdata from Kevin Martin

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