ST. JOHN'S (CANADA)
Canadian Lawyer [Canada]
November 13, 2025
By Jessica Mach
The plaintiff was a resident of the Whitbourne Boys Home, where others have alleged sexual abuse
A man who alleged a priest sexually assaulted him while he was a resident at a Newfoundland and Labrador youth detention center in the 1980s cannot pursue claims against the province through a summary trial, even though the province lacks evidence to contradict his claims, the province’s appellate court has ruled.
In a Nov. 7 decision, the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador found that “there is no principled reason why serious or substantial cases that involve historical sexual abuse do not lend themselves to summary trial disposition.”
However, the appellate court said that summary trials – which hinge on written evidence like affidavits rather than oral testimony – are only appropriate in such cases when the issues are “discrete, well defined, and contained, and the judge is confident that the record before the court is sufficient to fairly decide the matter.”
The appellate court also rejected the plaintiff’s argument that by rejecting his request for a summary trial, a provincial trial judge contravened the principles outlined in a 2014 Supreme Court of Canada decision, Hryniak v. Mauldin. In that decision, the high court encouraged the use of summary judgments, which are delivered without a trial, to promote timely and affordable access to justice.
The provincial appellate court noted that Hryniak v. Mauldin concerned an Ontario-specific rule about summary judgment that differed from Newfoundland and Labrador’s. The appellate court also dismissed the plaintiff’s request for an alternative route for resolving his claims: a summary trial that included oral testimony and cross-examinations.
This request effectively amounted to the plaintiff asking “to testify as though he were in a conventional trial,” the appellate court said. “In the circumstances of this case, such a request was neither expeditious nor cost-efficient, and in our view runs contrary to the principles of proportionality and expeditiousness supporting the summary trial rule.”
The court added that granting this request would have effectively allowed the plaintiff’s claim to be heard ahead of others “for no principled reason.”
In his lawsuit, the plaintiff, who is only identified as John Doe, alleged Father Ronald Bromley, a Roman Catholic priest, sexually assaulted him. According to Doe, the sexual assault occurred in the 1980s, when he was a resident at the Whitbourne Boys Home, a reform school for boys. At the time, the province had authorized Bromely, who is now deceased, to visit the facility and take them on excursions.
Doe argued the province is vicariously liable for Bromley’s actions and requested a summary trial.
In 2022, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador settled a class-action lawsuit brought by former residents at Whitbourne and other facilities in the province for nearly $13 million. The class action plaintiffs said they suffered sexual abuse at the facilities in the 1970s and 80s. John Hogan, who then served as the province’s attorney general, formally apologized to the victims on behalf of the provincial government.
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador rejected Doe’s request for a summary trial last year, concluding that the province deserved the chance to defend the claim in a full trial. Because Bromley was no longer alive, the trial said the only way for the province to test Doe’s claim was to cross-examine him and assess his credibility.
The trial court also noted that the alleged sexual abuse took place more than 40 years earlier and that many of the potential witnesses were no longer available. The trial court added that a plaintiff’s credibility in such historical sexual abuse claims “must be assessed within the context of a full trial.”
Doe appealed, arguing in part that the province’s concerns about his credibility were unfounded, since the province could not offer any evidence that contradicted his evidence. The trial judge had noted that the province’s lack of evidence was unusual, but the province argued its inability to access evidence was a reason to take the case to a full trial.
The appellate court sided with the province, finding that the fact that the province specifically lacked affidavit evidence “does not mean that there are no general credibility concerns.”
The appellate court noted that Doe was the only witness. It agreed with the trial court’s assessment that observing his demeanour during cross-examination was the only way to determine his credibility. The court referenced a lawsuit that another former Whitbourne resident filed against Bromley’s estate in 1998, accusing the priest of sexual assault.
In a 2009 decision in that case, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador noted that Bromely had died in a car accident five years earlier, which resulted in a lack of evidence. A trial judge dismissed the plaintiff’s request for a summary judgment, concluding that “a plaintiff cannot automatically obtain summary judgment just by asserting facts which cannot be refuted by other evidence.”
The appellate court said the same principles applied to Doe’s case. While summary trials can be appropriate for historical sexual abuse cases, they do not make sense for cases “that involve complex interwoven issues” or those that hold “the potential for lengthy and possibly conflicting viva voce evidence that will necessarily involve credibility assessments.”
Counsel for the plaintiff did provide a comment by publication time. A spokesperson and counsel for the province did not respond to a request for comment.
By Jessica Mach