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	Board Named in Sex Abuse Suit By Dave Battagello Windsor Star November 26, 2010 http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Board+named+abuse+suit/3887118/story.html Former teacher accused Raymond Lussier and the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board are being sued for $4.75 million by an alleged victim nearly 10 years after the former board director was cleared of sexual abuse allegations. Lussier was fired from the board after only five months on the job as director in 1998. He filed for wrongful dismissal, but soon after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced and gained widespread attention. A high-profile three-week criminal trial was held in 2001 when Lussier faced three charges of indecent assault, two charges of gross indecency and one charge of buggery related to a period when he was a teacher and counsellor at Glengarda in the mid-1970s. Three male students from the school for the developmentally disabled, ages 11 to 15 at the time, accused their former teacher of fondling, oral sex and anal intercourse during weekend visits to his lakefront home near Kingsville between September 1975 and June 1977. Lussier was found not guilty on May 31, 2001, by Superior Court Justice Anthony Cusinato who referred to inconsistencies, sketchy memories and changing stories from the victims during the trial. But one of those victims, a 48-year-old Windsor man, in a statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court, has accused Lussier of negligently inflicting mental suffering, humiliation and degradation which interfered with a normal upbringing. The incidents impaired his ability to complete his education or obtain employment appropriate to his abilities due to the emotional trauma, according to the court document. The plaintiff believes he has made poor life choices, been unable to interact properly with women, has low self-esteem, failed marriages and unable to trust those in authority, including employers. A statement of claim includes allegations not yet proven in court. The victim filing the lawsuit is not being named by The Star because of a publication ban on his name during the criminal trial. His statement of claim also has accused the Catholic board and its predecessor which operated Glengarda, the Ursuline Religious of The Diocese of London, of being negligent in its hiring of Lussier and putting him in position of power and trust "to engage in deviant activities." The two entities also ignored or failed to react at the time of the alleged incidents to complaints and information regarding improper conduct by Lussier, the court document says. The former board director, now 61, continues to reside in Windsor. "I'm not able to say anything at this point," Lussier said. "I was completely exonerated. Why this has resurfaced now I can't speak to it. Hopefully, it's going nowhere." He has retained Toronto lawyer William Markle, the same defence lawyer used during the criminal trial a decade ago. "A criminal case doesn't always resolve all the issues, but thecourtsanddecisionof Mr. Lussier spoke in favour of his innocence," Markle said. "We will deal with this as it comes. "Mr. Lussier simply wants to move on and leave this behind. Anybody, certainly 10 years down the road from the trial, would not want to see these claims made against him." The plaintiff has hired London lawyer Dallas Lee who noted Thursday such claims decades later are not uncommon among alleged childhood victims of sexual abuse. "They almost inevitably come later in life," Lee said. "We have many cases of this kind. Right now, I don't have a single client of this kind under 40. Often it's not until later in life they come to an appreciation of how much they were affected and are ready to move forward." School board lawyer Brian Nolan is in the early stages of preparing a statement of defence, he said on Thursday. "There is really nothing much to say at this point," Nolan said. "We will deny any liability for Mr. Lussier. That will be stated clearly in the defence, but it's premature at this point to say what that will include. "These kind of historic cases are very difficult. There is difficulty in locating witnesses and memories are sketchy. Trying to even find people that may have knowledge of the circumstances can be extremely difficult."
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