This class action was brought on behalf of all persons who attended the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School from 1984 to 2015 who were photographed by Bruce Monk in a private setting, and the dependents of those students.
This class action alleges that Bruce Monk, while a teacher and photographer at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, took naked, semi-naked, and sexualized photographs of Royal Winnipeg Ballet students, some of which he published, sold, and disseminated on-line. It is alleged that Monk did this without the consent of the class members.
The lawsuit alleges that Monk breached his fiduciary duty to the students, and committed breaches of confidence and trust. It alleges that Monk intruded upon the seclusion of the students, invaded their privacy, and committed the tort of public disclosure of private facts.
The lawsuit does not allege that Monk’s conduct was criminal. Rather, it focusses on Monk’s breach of the position of trust and power which he held over the students who he photographed, and his further misconduct by posting the photographs on-line without the consent of the students.
The parties have now reached a settlement of the action. Before the settlement is enforceable, it has to be approved by the court. The settlement approval hearing will be taking place on February 11, 2022. If you would like to watch the proceedings online, please contact us and we will send the viewing link closer to the court date.
In the class action, the plaintiff sought damages for the harm he caused to the student class members by taking sexualized photographs of them. It also seeks damages against Monk for the further harm he caused when he posted the images online, making them widely available to view and, in some cases, selling them online.
Regardless of your age at the time the photographs were taken, and regardless of whether you believe your images were posted or sold online, you will be entitled to make a claim for part of the settlement proceeds, if the settlement is approved, if sexualized photographs were taken of you by Monk in a private setting.
Details of the Settlement are set out under the “Updates” Tab.
Are you concerned that your images might remain in circulation?
We have posted a Revocation of Consent under the “Documents” tab. Please complete it and send it to us, and we will forward the revocation to Monk’s lawyers. Once he receives the revocation, he would then be unable to rely on any express or implied consent to publishing your images in the future, whether the photos were while you were a student or after leaving the RWB.
If you find your image online, you have the right to demand that it be removed. You can contact whatever entity has published or posted the image and use “Nonconsensual Distribution of Intimate Images” in the Re: line. In many jurisdictions it is now illegal to post intimate images without the consent of the subject, so many sites are quick to respond when they are told that they do not have your consent to the posting of the image.
This class action alleges that Bruce Monk, while a teacher and photographer at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, took naked, semi-naked, and sexualized photographs of Royal Winnipeg Ballet students, some of which he published, sold, and disseminated on-line. It is alleged that Monk did this without the consent of the class members.
The lawsuit alleges that Monk breached his fiduciary duty to the students, and committed breaches of confidence and trust. It alleges that Monk intruded upon the seclusion of the students, invaded their privacy, and committed the tort of public disclosure of private facts.
The lawsuit does not allege that Monk’s conduct was criminal. Rather, it focusses on Monk’s breach of the position of trust and power which he held over the students who he photographed, and his further misconduct by posting the photographs on-line without the consent of the students.
The parties have now reached a settlement of the action. Before the settlement is enforceable, it has to be approved by the court. The settlement approval hearing will be taking place on February 11, 2022. If you would like to watch the proceedings online, please contact us and we will send the viewing link closer to the court date.
In the class action, the plaintiff sought damages for the harm he caused to the student class members by taking sexualized photographs of them. It also seeks damages against Monk for the further harm he caused when he posted the images online, making them widely available to view and, in some cases, selling them online.
Regardless of your age at the time the photographs were taken, and regardless of whether you believe your images were posted or sold online, you will be entitled to make a claim for part of the settlement proceeds, if the settlement is approved, if sexualized photographs were taken of you by Monk in a private setting.
Details of the Settlement are set out under the “Updates” Tab.
Are you concerned that your images might remain in circulation?
We have posted a Revocation of Consent under the “Documents” tab. Please complete it and send it to us, and we will forward the revocation to Monk’s lawyers. Once he receives the revocation, he would then be unable to rely on any express or implied consent to publishing your images in the future, whether the photos were while you were a student or after leaving the RWB.
If you find your image online, you have the right to demand that it be removed. You can contact whatever entity has published or posted the image and use “Nonconsensual Distribution of Intimate Images” in the Re: line. In many jurisdictions it is now illegal to post intimate images without the consent of the subject, so many sites are quick to respond when they are told that they do not have your consent to the posting of the image.
Update on September 18, 2023:
The administration of the settlement of this class action is now completed.
The Claims Administrator has processed all claims, issued all final decision letters, and has issued payment by ETF or cheque.
All approved one-time payments of $1,000 CAD for health services have been issued via EFT or cheque.
The approved one-time Family Law Act payments (“the FLA Fund”) in the amount of $2,500.00 CAD were issued September 18, 2023, via EFT or cheque. If payment was sent via cheque, please cash your cheque before the stale-date.
The approved one-time Student Fund payments were issued September 18, 2023, via EFT or cheque. The approved Student Fund claimants will receive $20,243.03 CAD per approved point, in accordance with the Court-approved Distribution Protocol. If payment was sent via cheque, please cash your cheque before the stale-date
Settlement
On Friday, February 11, 2022, the Court approved the Settlement of this Action.
Notice of the settlement was sent to Class members for whom we have addresses, and was published in other media.
The Settlement Agreement is posted under the “Documents” Tab.
The RWB has now posted the Apology on its website.
Claims Closed
The deadline to submit a claim to be considered for compensation was 11:59 p.m. EST on February 28, 2023. Claim submissions are no longer being accepted.
We will post further updates closer to the distribution phase of the settlement process.
When Will Payments be Received?
The Claims Administrator has processed all the claims for compensation under the settlement, and has issued the final decision letters. There is a thirty day appeal period, which expires by the end of June, 2023.
The approved one-time payments of $1,000 CAD for health services (such as counselling) have all been issued via EFT or cheque.
The approved Family Law Act payments (“the FLA Fund”) and the Student Fund payments will only be issued after the appeals period has elapsed. At this time, the payments are not expected to go out until September 2023. This may change if there are no appeals.
If you have any questions about the timing of payments, please contact the Claims Administrator, Epiq Class Action Services, for further assistance. See contact info below:
Royal Winnipeg Ballet Class Action Claims Administrator
c/o Epiq Class Action Services Canada Inc.
P.O. Box 507 STN B
Ottawa ON K1P 5P6
Email: info@RWBClassAction.ca
Tel: 1-833-871-5362
Fax: 1-866-262-0816
Class Counsel and the Plaintiffs are seeking leave to appeal the court’s decision refusing to award an honorarium to the Plaintiffs and 3 class members. A strong decision that rejects the Court’s reasoning in this case has been delivered in another one of our cases – CarePartners Privacy Breach, and the decision in the CarePartners case is posted under the “Documents” Tab on that page, should you be interested.
The Settlement Agreement is posted under the “Documents” Tab.
The key elements of the settlement are:
This compensates family members who have been affected by the harms sustained by Eligible Student Class Members. One payment of up to $2,500 will be paid to the designated family member recipient.
The Health Services Fund ($500,000)
Any Eligible Student Class Member may make a request for a single payment of $1,000 from the Health Services Fund, regardless of whether or not the claims adjudicator determines that they have suffered other harms arising from their photo shoot with Bruce Monk. Payments will be made from this fund until it is fully disbursed, or until all Eligible Student Class Members have been finally determined by the Claims Administrator, whichever is first.
The Student Fund
This Fund will be made up of the remainder of the settlement funds, and any money not disbursed from the other two funds, and after deduction of the costs of the settlement administration.
The Claims Administrator will decide if those who have made a claim for compensation are Eligible Student Class Members, and they will assess the level of harm each such student has suffered on a scale of 1 (least) to 7 (most).
Once all claims have been assessed, the total number of points will be divided into the amount of the Student Fund to determine the value of one point. Then each person will be paid the amount of their claim based on the number of points assessed to their claim.
By way of example, if the Student Fund totals $5,000,000, and 500 points in total are awarded, then each point would have a value of $10,000, so that each Eligible Student Class Member awarded 7 points would be paid $70,000, each Eligible Student Class member awarded one point would be paid $10,000, and so forth.
We review every inquiry we receive and will respond promptly to case specific inquiries.
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