A settlement agreement has been reached in a class action lawsuit arising from the 2013 Lemon Creek fuel spill in the Slocan Valley.

The document states that the four defendants will collectively pay $4.5 million to residents affected by the spill, after legal and other fees are deducted. A settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.

The agreement, which has been signed by all four defendants and the plaintiff, must still be approved by a judge in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan.15, but David Rosenberg, the lawyer for the plaintiffs Robert Kirk and James Ross, says he is confident it will go through.

The defendants in the case are Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd., Transwest Helicopters Ltd., the Province of British Columbia, and Danny LaSante.

A class action is a lawsuit started by one person on behalf of members of a group that have a similar claim against a single person or company. Before a court will take on a class action, a judge must certify that it meets the multiple rules set out in the Class Proceedings Act, as a judge did in this case.

Two separate class actions were initiated by Lemon Creek residents Kirk and Ross and then combined. Both are claiming damages on behalf of many – Kirk for environmental damage and Ross for personal injury. 

According to Rosenberg, the class consists of 2,776 property owners within the zone that was evacuated after the fuel spill, plus anyone who carried on a business within that zone. These people, known as class members, are not individually named in the court action – this is always the case in class actions – and most of them did not actually put their names forward and may not know they are part of the group.

Anyone who lived in the evacuation zone at the time could benefit if they make a claim now. As in all class actions, no member will be responsible for legal fees or costs.

In the summer of 2013, Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd. was providing fuel to the provincial government to fight a forest fire in the area of Lemon Creek in the Slocan Valley. Its tanker truck, driven by Danny LaSante, overturned and spilled 35,000 litres of jet fuel into the creek, polluting the stream and causing a local evacuation of people living up to 40 kilometres downstream in the Slocan Valley.

The spill killed fish and forced residents to get alternate sources of drinking water for themselves and livestock for days.

Rosenberg said this is the first class action for environmental damage in Canada that has resulted in payment of a damage claim.

All four of the defendants have declined to comment on the agreement.

Filing a claim

After the court gives final approval in January, residents may advance a claim or may apply to be excluded from the class action. Details will be announced at the time on Rosenberg's .

Anyone wishing to make a claim may do so, and the amount each class member gets will be decided by an administrator who will apply a point system to the claims.

A class member can get compensation simply by being a class member. If a person was physically evacuated and can provide evidence of that, they will receive more.

If a class member suffered personal injuries, such as burning eyes, nose, and rashes, they will get a larger amount, and a more severe personal injury will entitle more yet.

Documented out-of-pocket expenses such as hotels, gas, evacuation and health-care costs will be reimbursed.

If a class member can establish that they sold their property in the evacuation zone within five years following the spill and the property was devalued because of the spill, they may get compensation for that.

A maze of court actions

This case has taken a slow and circuitous route through the courts.

"I've been doing (class actions) a long time," said Rosenberg. "I've never seen a case that's been certified, gone to the Court of Appeal, been sent back, certified again, and appealed again."

The federal Crown also laid charges against three of the defendants for destruction of fish habitat under the Fisheries Act. LaSante and Executive Flight Services were found guilty and received fines, and the Province of B.C. was found not guilty.