Yellowknife (Mar 19/03) - Bill Enge called a recent NWT Supreme Court ruling a "major victory" in a case against the North Slave Metis Alliance.

Bill Enge

The case will go to a civil trial without the defendant examining in advance 42 plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, launched by Enge, Justice Ted Richard ruled on Tuesday.

Enge and 87 others say the alliance wrongfully revoked their memberships.

Richard dismissed the alliance's application to examine the individuals before the trial.

Justice Richard ruled that the application is "unreasonable and unnecessary in these circumstances. To allow these individual discoveries would result in undue expense and delay in the litigation."

The 87 plaintiffs would have to travel from as far away as Fort Nelson, B.C. They have already filled out a two-page questionnaire drafted by the defendant's lawyer, which will be considered in the trial.

"That's a very major turning point in this lawsuit," said Enge. "It means that the defendant's lawyer can't delay this for months and months cross-examining all those people."

"It's pretty well clear sailing from here on in to trial."

Enge said it's still difficult to say when the case will go to trial.

"We feel that it should be eight to 10 months."

Enge said the trial's outcome will have huge implications for the alliance.

"There are 87 members of the lawsuit but many more, who had their memberships revoked, did not manage to sign up for the lawsuit before the deadline."

"That's a large voting bloc of the membership. The political dynamics are quite strong and this case will have a huge impact."

As part of the case Enge will ask the court to reinstate the original alliance bylaws.

"The one they're operating under now was amended without the members who had their membership revoked," he said. "So there's enormous implications in this lawsuit for myself and the members who had their membership revoked."