Thalidomide Class Action in Canada: Federal Court Cancels Decision



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Thalidomide survivors got the green light in Canada to challenge a compensation program.

The Federal Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that a lower court judge had erred in denying clbad action certification and named Bruce Wenham as plaintiffs' representative.

Wenham, 60, born in Toronto, says she was born with deformed arms because her mother had taken thalidomide during her pregnancy.

However, the government rejected him and 167 other people for compensation because they had no evidence of the link with the drug now gone.

Wenham argued that the documentary evidence requirements were unreasonable and the Federal Court stated that the Court of Appeal erred in citing a specific section of the Federal Courts Act to reject Wenham's position.

The Federal Court of Appeal stated that Wenham 's case met the criteria for a clbad action, although it pointed out that it was not a matter for a clbad action. an badessment of the likelihood that the claimants' claims will succeed.

In the 1990s, the federal government distributed lump-sum payments ranging from $ 52,000 to $ 82,000 to 109 people affected by thalidomide.

In 2014, considering that the compensation was insufficient to cover their medical needs, the Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada, which then represented approximately 120 survivors, asked the federal government to pay an additional lump sum of 250 $ 000 and annual payments between $ 75,000 and $ 150,000.

In 2015, the federal government announced a lump sum payment of $ 125,000 to each thalidomide survivor and an annual government pension of up to $ 100,000.

To be eligible, it was necessary to have received payments under the 1990 plan or to apply by the end of May 2016, provided that a certain number of documentary proof criteria were met to certify that they had been affected.

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