Man files class action lawsuit for victims of Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy

The City of Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health, and the man suspected of ramming an SUV into a crowd at a Filipino street festival in April have all been named in a new class-action lawsuit.

The plaintiff is John Lind, who, according to court documents, attended the Lapu-Lapu Day festival with his family and suffered substantial injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder, rib fractures and a punctured spleen.

The lawsuit alleges that the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department ought to have known that unlawful entry of the festival was reasonably foreseeable.

“No dedicated police deployment by the VPD or any other police force was scheduled to patrol the Festival, despite the Festival’s significantly increased anticipated attendance and geographical scope,” it alleges, adding that only wooden sawhorse barricades were used to block vehicles.

The suit also alleges that Vancouver Coastal Health permitted the suspect to be out on extended leave from a mental health facility.

Lind is seeking damages for himself and anyone who suffered personal injury, loss of income, losses entitling them to statutory compensation, those who must pay for future care, and those who paid out of pocket for medical expenses.

Kai-Ji Adam Lo has been charged with 11 counts of second-degree murder and 31 counts of attempted murder. In September, a B.C. judge ruled Lo was fit to stand trial, but a date has not yet been set.

The class-action lawsuit, filed Thursday, has yet to be certified by the Supreme Court of B.C., and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

—With files from Cecilia Hua