Judge greenlights TDSB lawsuit over fire that destroyed York Memorial high school

The Toronto District School Board can proceed with a lawsuit against the city, the police services board and Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal over a 2019 fire that destroyed a high school, the province's superior court has ruled.

The TDSB's lawsuit claims the Office of the Fire Marshal neglected to assure a duty of care and misrepresented its authority, which led to harm, in its handling of a fire at York Memorial Collegiate Institute, according to a judge's summary of the case from a July decision over whether the suit could proceed.

The TDSB's claim was struck down by Superior Court Justice Marie-Andrée Vermette in 2022. But in a decision this July, Justice Loretta Merritt said the amended claim could now proceed because the school board is alleging the OFM went outside its scope o