CEDAW/C/51/D/19/2008 battery, sexual assault, intimidation, trespass to chattels, loss of use of her home and consequential payment of rent and attendant expenses She also filed a declaration that her partner had obtained the house through fraudulent methods, aided and abetted by the Government of the Northwest Territories. 1 The author applied for legal aid and was assigned a lawyer who advised her to comply with the eviction letter and not to return to her home, otherwise she would be charged. 2.8 Shortly after the first lawsuit was filed, the partner became ill with cancer and the author’s lawyer recommended that the court action be delayed. The partner died in November 1995. In March 1996, the author’s lawyer initiated the second court action against the estate of the partner, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and William Pourier, who was alleged to have been residing in the house with her partner at the time of his death, and who continued to reside there. The author’s claim was amended by her new counsel on 9 July 1998 to include the claim for damages for assault and intimidation, in addition to the previously submitted claim. 2.9 In May 1999, a formal offer to settle in the amount of Can$15,000 was made by the partner’s estate and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, while the author’s lawyer focused his efforts on negotiating a settlement of Can$20,000. No further steps were taken in respect of the author’s outstanding legal actions. Thereafter, the author’s file was reassigned twice to different lawyers because one relocated to Alberta, and the other ceased employment with the Legal Services Board. In November 1999, the author was assigned a fourth lawyer, who insisted that she accept a monetary settlement. As the author’s primary focus has always been on regaining ownership and possession of her house, she wanted to pursue her claim in court, rather than pursue a monetary settlement. As a result of the conflict between the author and her lawyer, the latter ceased acting on her behalf in June 2002. The author was then denied another legal aid lawyer and had to appeal against her denial of legal coverage to the Legal Services Board, which allowed her appeal and assigned her a fifth lawyer. 2.10 On 3 June 2003, a notice of motion was filed by her partner’s estate to set aside the author’s statement of claims, for ―want of prosecution‖ on the grounds that the author, as the party who initiated a legal action, has not diligently acted to pursue her claim.2 On 10 June 2003, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation also brought a motion to dismiss the action. When the application for dismissal of the first action was heard in October 2003 in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, the author did not contest the dismissal; therefore the first action was dismissed without appeal to the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories. However, the author argued against the dismissal of the second action, on the ground that the Court should have reviewed all the actions in the two cases in its assessment of whether there had been a material delay in prosecution. The author was actively responsive to the first action which was linked to the second case, therefore she considered it unjust that the Court deemed that she had taken ―no action‖ in the past few years. The second action was nevertheless dismissed on 3 November 2003 by the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories for ―want of prosecution,‖ on the grounds that no action had been taken by the author. Costs were imposed, which were later taxed at Can$5,800.3 1 2 3 4 Under Canadian jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories is the court of first instance, whose decision may be appealed in the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories. The decision of the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories is subject to the appeal in the Supreme Court of Canada. In common-law countries, ―want of prosecution‖ is an application to a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the litigant has inexcusably delayed moving the litigation along and that, under the circumstances, the litigation ought to be dismissed. Currency used is Canadian dollars.