Court certifies class action over COVID-19 outbreaks at Huron Lodge

An Ontario court has certified a class action against the City of Windsor over COVID-19 outbreaks at Huron Lodge. The City consented. The lawsuit alleges gross negligence; that has not been proven, and certification is not a finding of fault.

Topics: Public safety

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An Ontario Superior Court judge has certified a class action against the City of Windsor over COVID-19 outbreaks at Huron Lodge, the city's long-term care home. The decision is Adamo v. City of Windsor, 2026 ONSC 6174, dated Oct. 30, 2026. It is on CanLII. The City consented to certification.

The lawsuit alleges the City was grossly negligent in its response to COVID-19 at the home. Those claims have not been proven in court. Certification means the case can proceed as a class action. It is not a finding that the City was at fault, or that it caused any infection or death.

The decision, as indexed on CanLII, records that the statement of claim discloses a reasonable cause of action in gross negligence and that a class proceeding was certified. The indexed common issues include whether the City owed a duty of care to residents and visitors, what standard of care applied, whether it was breached, whether any breach amounted to gross negligence, and whether that caused infections or deaths. The record also includes derivative claims under section 61 of Ontario's Family Law Act.

CBC News reported that Joe Adamo, as litigation administrator for the estate of Vincenzo Adamo and in his personal capacity, is the representative plaintiff. Gary Will, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told CBC that 48 residents and 26 staff contracted COVID-19 during outbreaks at Huron Lodge between December 2020 and Feb. 11, 2021, and that 11 residents died from complications related to the virus. Those figures are his account to CBC, not findings of the court.

CBC's own report gave two different class periods and two different sets of numbers. Its photo caption said the lawsuit alleges at least 1,966 residents were infected and at least 244 died between Jan. 25, 2020, and May 5, 2023. The same infection and death figures have been reported in a separate class action, Graham v. GEM Healthcare Group Limited, 2026 ONSC 6036, about Downsview Long-Term Care Centre in Toronto, certified four days earlier. We have not confirmed those figures from the Oct. 30 decision, so we are not repeating them as facts about Huron Lodge.

City of Windsor spokesperson Jill Braido told CBC, in an email: "As this matter is before the courts, the city is unable to comment on the specifics of this proceeding and no interviews are available at this time."

Will told CBC that lawyers are waiting for documents from the City before examinations for discovery, which he hopes will take place in early 2027, with a trial on the common issues later in 2027 or early 2028.

A related decision on the same court file, Adamo v. Huron Lodge Long Term Care Home, 2026 ONSC 3345, dated June 5, 2026, is also on CanLII. It deals with the time period open for discovery on infection prevention and control, not with liability.

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