Decision to fire lawyer over botched city lawsuit fails to placate councillors

Winnipeg's decision to fire one of its own lawyers over a botched water-treatment lawsuit has failed to placate city councillorsupset with the potential loss of up to $20 million.

Councillors inside and out of the mayor's inner circle are pushing for a variety of actions after Winnipeg lost the opportunity to proceed with a lawsuit against 10 contractors the city claimed were responsible for deficiencies in the construction of Winnipeg's water-treatment plant.

Last weekWinnipeg chief administrative officer Doug McNeil said the city fired a lawyer because the city filed a statement of claim after a six-year deadline. The water-treatment plant was deemed substantially complete in early 2009, while the statement of claim was issued in late 2016, at least six months too late, city officials said.

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Council finance chair Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) said Monday he plans to ask executive policy committee to approve a plan to ask an external lawyer to find out if the city can recover millions from a Law Society of Manitoba insurance fund.

Gillingham also wants to know whether it makes more sense for the city to insure its own lawyers rather than obtaining professional liability insurance in order to protect taxpayers from legal mistakes.

Council property chair John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) said he plansto call an audit of the water-treatment lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Couns. Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) and Russ Wyatt (Transcona) have authored a motion to put together a chronology of the water-treatment lawsuit. Their motion will also come before executive policy committee.

Winnipeg's director of legal services, Krista Boryskavich, has not commented since McNeil disclosed the end of the lawsuit. While her name appears on the file in the province's online court registry, she is not the lawyer who was dismissed by the city, the CAO said.