Electronic messages exhibited by the defence show that a potential class action lawsuit against the Regina chiropractor had been discussed.
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As the sexual assault trial of Regina chiropractor Ruben Adam Manz continued Tuesday, one of the women who accused him was resolute that she did not do so with money in mind.
The 30-year-old woman, whose testimony began Monday in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench, firmly denied the suggestion made Tuesday by defence lawyer Blaine Beaven that she saw an opportunity to benefit from a class action lawsuit being discussed in advance of the trial.
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“I saw an opportunity to help people that shouldn’t have to go through the same thing,” she responded.
Manz stands charged with sexually assaulting the aforementioned witness and six other complainants, all of whom are said to be his former patients. None can be identified due to a standard publication ban protecting their identities.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges when his trial began Nov. 4.
The witness discussed in this article previously testified that in 2017 Manz touched her breast during the course of a stretch as part of chiropractic treatment. Her account was similar to allegations made by other complainants who have also testified at trial.
Tuesday’s continued cross-examination by Beaven was dominated by questions regarding her communications with another woman.
After learning Manz had been charged in 2021, the witness made a post about it on Facebook. A female acquaintance of the woman messaged her after she’d made the post, saying she’d had a similar experience, the witness testified. That woman is not among those who Manz is charged with sexually assaulting.
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Prior to the witness making a statement to police, her acquaintance told her she was looking at starting a class action lawsuit (against Manz and potentially a chiropractors association). As referenced by Beaven, later messages from the acquaintance included apparent information about potential cash payouts to plaintiffs, and attempts to connect the witness with a lawyer.
The witness maintained that she didn’t understand what a class action lawsuit was at the time, or how it differed from a criminal case.
“I thought it was all kind of connected,” she said.
A message from the acquaintance, read by Beaven, suggested she was shopping different law firms and would “ask all the girls for input, and we will decide on a firm!”
“I’m thinking whoever quotes the most money LOL,” the acquaintance wrote, as read by Beaven.
The witness said she assumed “all the girls” would probably have included her and the others were probably people who had “the same experiences,” but she told Beaven she did not know who those people were.
The witness said at one point she told her acquaintance that she hadn’t spoken with police, as she hadn’t “got up the nerves” to talk about the alleged incident. Following this, the acquaintance arranged for police to call the witness, she agreed.
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She also agreed that another woman’s account — shared with her by the acquaintance prior to her giving a statement to police — was similar to her own account, but she denied the other woman’s account had influenced what she’d told police.
The witness felt her acquaintance had shared the other woman’s account with her to show she was not alone, she testified.
Beaven suggested Manz had never touched her breast. Did she agree?
“No.”
Her answer was the same to other suggestions from the defence lawyer that contrasted her account, including her motivation for coming forward.
The witness later told Crown prosecutor Jackie Lane that she’d never spoken to a lawyer about a class action lawsuit, and she’d never signed on to participate in one.
The prosecutor handed her a printed copy of the Facebook post she’d made in relation to a news story that Manz had been charged, and asked her to read it.
She read it in parts, pausing as she became emotional.
The post said she’d been sad that she hadn’t spoken up about the incident when she should have.
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