Whelton Hiutin LLP lawyer Meaghan Coker, together with other lawyers representing individual plaintiffs, was recently successful in resisting the Government of Ontario’s motion to stay individual lawsuits arising from the Maplehurst Correctional Centre’s Institutional Crisis Intervention Team deployment in December 2023. The plaintiffs’ claims allege that prisoners were subjected to several days of physical and psychological abuse and collective punishment as a result of an incident concerning one inmate at the jail. The Government of Ontario had sought to pause the individual actions pending a decision in a class proceeding arising from the same events. In dismissing the motion to stay the individual actions, Justice Leiper emphasized the importance of litigation autonomy and the harm that would be caused to the plaintiffs by a stay. A link to the decision, Chisholm v. His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, 2026 ONSC 3512, can be found here.