Former Michelin Canada Worker Confident of Appeal Success

Although ordered in March 2008 to pay almost CA$300,000 (£156,600) in legal costs for a failed lawsuit against Michelin Canada, Everett Smith is retaining a positive attitude during appeal proceedings. “I feel very confident,” said the former Michelin forklift operator during a break in proceedings at the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on October 6. “It’s going fairly well, pretty good. We’re fighting a big company.”

Smith, who instigated a pension claims lawsuit on behalf of the Concerned Pension Group, was told by Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge Justice Suzanne Hood that he must personally reimburse half of Michelin’s $599,377.95 costs and disbursements from the case. At the time of Justice Hood’s decision, Michelin stated it would “make every effort to collect these funds from Mr. Smith in accordance with the court’s decision.”

Everett Smith’s lawyers argued before a three-member Appeal Court panel on October 2 that Justice Hood had made fundamental errors in reaching her decision. “Justice Hood was wrong, with all due respect,” later commented Smith’s lawyer, Iain Sneddon. Mr. Smith and his lawyers are also arguing that legal costs associated with the suit should entirely be paid out of the pension fund.