Sol Boxenbaum: the biggest disappointment of my career.
Par Alain Dubois le jeudi, janvier 7 2010, 04:00 - ÉDITORIAUX - Lien permanent
Although the plan was to hold a press conference next week to denounce the settlement reached between Loto-Quebec and the law firm of Garneau, Verdon, Michaud and associates, a leak to certain French language newspapers has made it necessary to issue the following statement. Any further questions can be addressed to Sol Boxenbaum at 514 486 6226 as of 1:00 P.M. Thursday January 7, 2010.
In the fourteen years that I have been involved as a consumer advocate in matters relating to gambling, the settlement reached in this case is the biggest disappointment of my career. As is often the case, in my opinion, the only winners were the lawyers on both sides of the issue.
Following eight years of legal manoeuvering by the law firms representing Loto-Quebec and the manufacturers of Video Lottery Terminals the trial began and as anticipated, Loto-Quebec eventually proposed an out-of-court settlement. The case which was based on duty-of-care could never have withstood judgement. It was alleged that the VLTs which Loto-Quebec had placed in thousands of locations in Quebec carried no warnings that the machines might cause a dependancy and should be considered dangerous. As a result of the absence of a warning approximately ten percent of the adukt population began to play the machines. A large percentage of these people began to develop behavioural problems which lead, among other things, to criminal activity in order to maintain the participation, and to an extraordinary number of suicides. Among the defense arguments was one that pretended that the victims were already psychologically "damaged". They also argued that VLTs were no more dangerous than any other form of gambling. Subsequent studies established the fact that the addictive features were built directly into the machines unlike all other forms of gambling.
The class-action asked for warnings to be placed on the screens of the VLTs. It asked for $700 million dollars which would be used for reimbursement for therapy and/or for for starting therapy and rehabilitation. An independant Foundation would be established at arms' length from Loto-Quebec and the Government in order to disburse funding to the victims and to provide education and awareness to the general public to promote responsibility in gambling. In the settlement was agreed that the Foundation would be government sponsored with no independant participation. Furthermore all decisions of payment to victims would be made exclusively by the Ministery od Health and Social Service (MSSS) and would not allow rebates for services of therapy that did not conform with MSSS policy.
Sol Boxenbaum
The Law Firm (GVMS) further agreed that the machines did not cause the addiction, contrary to the studies that claimed otherwise. Ironicallly, in the same time space that this agreement was being penned, Loto-Quebec was placing an order for new VLTs to replace the aging inventory. $265 million is being spent on the new generation of machines and when asked if there would be realistic warnings on the screens, M. Garneau replied that he did not know. In the end I can find absolutely nothing in this settlement that is going to help the victims. It is, furthermore, damaging as the eyes of the world have been focused on Quebec since the outset of this trial which ends up with no winners except for the lawyers. The firm of GVMS will receive $2 million 750 000 in fees and the firm of Heenan Blakie, who represented Loto-Quebec, an unspecified amount.
The terms of settlement will be published in all Quebec print media on January 16, 2010 and will be heard in early February in Superior Court, Quebec City and I will encourage all claimants to reject this settlement.