Report: Innocent players from 2018 World Juniors case to sue Hockey Canada?

Last week Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia found former NHLers Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote not guilty of sexual assault for their actions in an encounter with a young woman identified only as E.M. in June of 2018.

“Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of E.M. and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” the judge said.

"I do not find the evidence of E.M. to be either credible or reliable. Crown cannot meet onus on any counts,” Carroccia said in court this morning. “In this case, I have found actual consent not vitiated by fear.”

E.M. alleged that she engaged in consensual sex with McLeod before being taken advantage of by Hart, Dube, Formenton and Foote.

“I was feeling scared,” E.M. told the court. “I didn’t know where things were going. I didn’t know how to handle that kind of situation. “I was scared and confused, I guess… They were laughing at me; they were spitting on me at points. It just seemed like a joke to them. But I was feeling just intimidated and not sure how to react.”

Katie Strang of The Athletic was on The Steve Dangle Podcast earlier this week where she described a turning point in the trial. Strang, of course, was reporting on the trial live in person from court.

Strang reports that E.M.'s disposition and comportment changed quite a bit as the trial dragged on and that she seemed to pick fights with the defence lawyers.

From Strang:

"Her comportment on the stand really changed. There was a real arch and trajectory to how she was on Day 1... to the end. She started as very polite, very compliant... then the different defence teams went at her pretty hard and you saw her become agitated, more combative, flustered and emotional. But then she kind of went back to what she said was sticking up for herself and a bit more willing to push back on suggestions that were put forth. By the end I think she was more defiant and self assured. It was almost like a story within a trial. You saw a real arc of emotions and certainly a real arch of different tactics and lawyering styles. "

To this writer, it sounds like E.M.'s words and actions both on the stand and in court evidence led Judge Carroccia to doubt her own case.

Of course, we also know that E.M. was granted a $3 million settlement from Hockey Canada before news of this scandal went public.

A cynic might say that Hockey Canada paid E.M. "hush money" to keep quiet and not pursue a criminal case. We also now know that the Crown made the decision to move ahead with charges on their own.

What's interesting though is that none of the accused were informed of E.M.'s settlement when it happened. Hockey Canada simply paid her off and hoped they could sweep the entire scandal under the rug. Now, Strang believes there could be legal implications for Hockey Canada for making this decision.

"I wouldn't be surprised by (a lawsuit), quite honestly. I do think it's unusual to settle a case without notifying the accused of the allegations against them. One of the bedrocks of charter rights in Canada... is you have to know what you're accused of and given the opportunity to defend yourself. So I would not be surprised at all to see litigation against Hockey Canada that addresses that very question."

In other words, there's nothing stopping these exonerated players from suing Hockey Canada for their mismanagement of the entire situation. Frankly, I wouldn't blame them.