The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board won't be pursuing legal action as part of the $70-million bingo lawsuit the City of Windsor and Town of Tecumseh are facing.
Board Chair Barbara Holland says trustees felt the cons outweighed the pros in considering the legal action.
"What ends up happening is that all the people that have supported our schools and our students throughout the years so generously end up getting punished through taxation and we did not feel that was fair," says Holland.
The lawsuits put forward by the ALS Society of Essex County and Belle River District Minor Hockey Association allege the city and town overcharged for bingo licences going back to the early 1990s.
"When these licences were taken out people felt that they were reasonable and moved forward based on that and were very successful in their fundraising," says Holland. "It really all comes down to what is the impact on community and we think that that impact will be extremely negative."
Earlier this year, Justice Terrence Patterson ruled the city and town to have gone too far in their campaign to get potential claimants to "opt-out" of the class-action, but Holland doesn't think the campaign — including billboard, radio and other multimedia advertisements — had any affect on the trustees' decision announced at their regular board meeting on Tuesday night.
"We had a matter that came before us and we sought legal counsel, which is what we normally do, and we just thought that the impact was negative," says Holland.
Brentwood Recovery Home is another of the high-profile organizations that have opted-out of the legal action against the city and town.
