Pinay files $1.2M suit vs. Canada employer for sex assault claims

A Filipina caregiver in Ontario, Canada filed a $1.2-million lawsuit against her former employer, who accused her of sexually assaulting her four-year old ward. A report of the community news site Atin Ito last month said caregiver Mary-Ann Cala-or, also included as defendants:

• Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario (for the questionable conduct of the police officers), and
• the Attorney General of Ontario (for the questionable conduct of prosecutors in investigating the case).

Cala-or filed the lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on January 9. She is seeking from the defendants general damages of $1M, aggravated damages of $100T, and exemplary damages of $100T.  Cala-or was a schoolteacher who went to Canada in March 2009 to work as a caregiver for her employer’s four-year old son and two-year old daughter.  A few days after her arrival, she was dismissed from service and evicted from the house. Her employer filed a complaint with the police, charging her with sexual assault and sexual interference under sections 271 and 151(a) of the Criminal Code.   Cala-or was acquitted of the criminal charges after trial in January 2010.  According to Atin Ito, Cala-or's claim stated that “not only were the offenses not proved beyond reasonable doubt, but (the presiding judge) accepted the Plaintiff’s evidence and therefore no crime had been committed.” Cala-or alleged that her employers in Midhurst, Ontario, one of whom trained as a Law Clerk, “fabricated facts and circumstances with malice...to make innocent, consensual and contractually mandated actions, into ones with a sexually prohibited innuendo, such as to cause police officers to apprehend the commission of crimes and arrest and charge the Plaintiff.” Cala-or also claimed that “the matter was negligently investigated" by police officers and Crown Attorneys. “Throughout the investigation, no regard was had to the fact that the actions complained of were clearly part of the duties of any nanny employed to look after a small child in diapers and were found to be so...by the trial judge," Cala-or alleged in her lawsuit. - with Rouchelle Dinglasan, VVP, GMA News