Just over six months after it was filed, a wrongful dismissal suit launched by a former Yukon government mine engineer ended quietly — with a few strokes of a pen, rather than a public trial.
Lawyers representing former chief mine engineer Paul Christman and the Yukon government signed off on a court order dismissing the case on Nov. 1. Neither party is responsible for the other’s legal costs.
In April of this year, Christman sued the Yukon government’s department of energy, mines and resources, alleging the government stripped him of his authority, ignored his job description and created a hostile work environment.
Court documents detailed a conflict between Christman, his department superior and a mining firm called Golden Predator. Christman claimed his supervisor, the Yukon’s director of mineral services, drastically reduced the financial security that the mining firm would have to put up in order to restart operations at the mine and waived the requirment for an environmental assessment.
This lead to further conflict that made his resignation involuntary, Christman’s statement of claim said.
Shortly after the lawsuit was initiated Christman’s lawyer Mark Wallace told the News they would be seeking damages for breach of the employment contract totaling nine months pay as well as punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest and legal costs.
In May, the Yukon government issued a statement of defence denying all the facts claimed by Christman and asking for the case to be dismissed with costs.
The Department of Energy, Mines and Resources said they would offer no public comment about the result.
Wallace did not respond to a request for further information by The Yukon News’ deadline.
A parallel legal action filed in British Columbia carrying allegations of defamation against Christman from Golden Predator’s CEO has not seen new public developments since mid May as per B.C.’s online court services system.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com