About Kevin Egan
Areas of Practice Include:
- Personal Injury
- Charter Violations
- Prison Cases
- Assaults
- Inquests
- Police Negligence & Misconduct
- Workplace Safety and Insurance Injuries and Appeals (WSIB)
- Wrongful Dismissal
- Human Rights Violations
- Mediation Services
Professional Associations and Community Involvement
Professional Associations
- Law Society of Ontario
- Middlesex Law Association
- Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
- Ontario Bar Association
- Canadian Bar Association
Community Involvement
Kevin strongly believes that those who can, ought to give back to their community. For the past several years he has been actively involved in coaching and managing minor sports within the City of London. He has served seven terms as the President of the London Junior Knights Hockey Association, the elite level for competitive minor hockey within the city, 3 terms as Past President, 2 terms as Director of Fundraising and one term as Director at Large .
Kevin remains keenly interested in providing programs and other assistance so that young people have an opportunity to develop their skills and their character through sport.
Advocacy
Social Justice
Social Justice
Kevin has long been an advocate for change in the Corrections system.
Watch Kevin on the Fifth Estate
In Henebry v. Her Majesty the Queen, the first case ever to go to trial regarding conditions and treatment at Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre, Kevin Egan argued for and won damages, not only in negligence, but for violations of s. 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - the prohibition against cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
Justice Jonathon George found :
[297] The threshold for establishing a s. 12 violation is high,..The Supreme Court has used various expressions to describe this high bar: “so excessive as to outrage standards of decency”; “grossly disproportionate to what would have been appropriate”; “grossly disproportionate for the offender, such that Canadians would find the punishment abhorrent or intolerable”. ...[298] Such findings should be, and have been, rare. ... However, in this case [311] The evidence establishes a Charter infringement. Jesse’s right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual treatment was violated.
In assessing these damages, I am mindful of the moral obligation to show humanity and treat everyone with dignity and respect. I find that - far too often - we, society at large, pay insufficient attention to the conditions in correctional facilities. The prevailing public sentiment seems to be that those in jail deserve to be there, and what happens to them while inside is what they had coming to them. This ignorant view fails to recognize that many inmates are in custody for crimes they have not yet been convicted of, and that some are wrongly accused and innocent. Just because there are consequences for bad behaviour, and just because people must sometimes be separated from society, does not mean they should be subjected to violence and degradation at the hands of, or with the encouragement of, the state.
Social Justice
Social Justice
Social Justice
Kevin Outside the Hamilton Wentworth Detention Centre - subject of a "Super Inquest" in 2018
Kevin also advocates for those subjected to police misconduct.
Winmill v. Woodstock (Police Services Board)In an important Limitation Period case, Kevin successfully argued before the Ontario Court of Appeal that “it made sense” for Mr. Winmill to defer his lawsuit against Woodstock Police beyond the 2 year limitation period because the assault charge against him and the claim of battery against the police were “in reality, two sides of the same coin or mirror images of each other.” .... "In a similar vein, it strikes me as obvious that the verdict in the appellant’s criminal trial, especially on the assault charge, would be a crucial, bordering on determinative, factor in the appellant’s calculation of whether to proceed with a civil action grounded in a battery claim against the respondents".
The case has been referred to favourably in 58 cases before Canadian courts since then.
Class Actions
Social Justice
Class Actions
Kevin Egan originated and spearheaded class actions regarding horrendous conditions at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC). "Lawyer Kevin Egan, seen on Sept. 13, 2023, became a champion for inmates and their families after first hearing of a homicide in the jail in 2009". (Gerry Dewan/CTV News London) The total settlement was $42,183,607.92
"I first got involved in 2009 when there was a homicide at EMDC,” said lawyer Kevin Egan. “Everyone put it down as a slip and fall in the shower. It kind of opened my eyes to what needs to be addressed there."
Since 2009, there have been 22 deaths at that jail.
Egan became a champion for inmates and their families reporting abuses or negligence, "Grown men breaking down in tears and telling me about what their experiences had been. So today has been very gratifying to at least get some closure for those individuals."
Justice Duncan Grace said this in his endorsement:
Those detained, no matter the reason or length of time, deserve to be treated humanely. That means providing them with adequate shelter, nourishment, medical care, a reasonably safe environment and unless and then only for so long as it is unearned, respect. Those in a position of power must recognize their profound privilege and responsibility and respect it.