British ColumbiaA victim of the Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy is seeking to certify a class-action lawsuit against the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the accused in the case, Kai-Ji Adam Lo.John Lind alleges defendants were negligent in planning festival and assessing danger posed by suspectMichelle Ghoussoub · CBC News · Posted: Oct 24, 2025 6:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesPeople pay their respects at a memorial at the scene of where 11 people were killed when a man drove his car through the Lapu-Lapu filipino community festival in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Ben Nelms/CBC)A man who suffered serious injuries during the alleged attack on the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver is seeking to certify a proposed class-action lawsuit on behalf of attendees of the event.John Lind filed the notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday — naming the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA), and Kai-Ji Adam Lo.Lo is the man accused of driving an SUV into a crowd at the event celebrating Filipino culture, killing 11 and injuring dozens of others on April 26.The suit alleges the city and the health authority ought to have known unlawful entry into the festival, which took place on public streets, was “foreseeable.” WATCH | Report released into Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy:Vehicle barriers, clearer safety planning advised after Lapu-Lapu Day attackThe final report following the Lapu-Lapu Day ramming attack recommended several measures including more vehicle barriers, clearer safety planning and more provincial support. And it further alleges they ought to have known Lo posed an imminent threat to others, given recent encounters with mental health institutions and law enforcement. The documents cite the defendants’ alleged “failure to identify risks posed by the Defendant Kai-Ji Adam in the months and weeks leading up to the Festival,” and their “negligence in planning, security and risk assessment.””They have conducted themselves in a high-handed, wanton and reckless manner, and without regard to public safety,” the proposed suit claims.Eleven people died and dozens more were seriously injured after the alleged attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver. (Ben Nelms/CBC)According to the document, Lind suffered serious injuries as a result of the vehicle ramming — including multiple rib fractures, a punctured spleen and lung, a lacerated kidney, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s seeking the recovery of health-care costs, general damages, special damages, and punitive damages.’Negligence’ alleged in safety planningThe 13-page notice of civil claim alleges the city was negligent in assessing the risk level of the festival, noting the event was anticipated to have twice the attendance of a previous 2024 event and was spread over a larger geographical space.According to the suit, community organization Filipino B.C. submitted a permit application for the festival, filling out the complexity level as “high.” But the lawsuit claims the the City of Vancouver categorized the festival as being a low complexity event, and therefore no dedicated police deployment was scheduled to patrol the festival grounds.Police officers are seen during the aftermath of the Lapu-Lapu Day festival car ramming in April. (Ben Nelms/CBC)The suit claims says that despite the festival being held on a public street, only wooden sawhorse-style barricades were deployed to block vehicle access.It says that no hostile vehicle mitigation plan was put in place, and no heavy vehicle barriers or light vehicle barriers were in place to prevent vehicles from driving into the space.The suit claims the city and health authority were negligent in not providing these barriers, given the number of attacks involving vehicles driving into crowded public events has risen in recent years — citing high-profile cases in Nice, London, and Toronto.Handling of Lo’s mental health questionedThe suit also alleges the city and health authority “ought to have known that the Defendant Lo was an imminent threat to himself or others.”In the days after the festival, B.C.’s Ministry of Health issued a statement saying the then 30-year-old was under the care of a VCHA mental health team and was “being supervised under the Mental Health Act” at the time of the tragedy.Lo had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and, according to the lawsuit, was a “frequent flyer” with the Vancouver Police Department and Richmond RCMP, with “a significant history of mental health interactions with various police officers.”A teddy bear adorns a chain-link fence during a Lapu-Lapu Day memorial in Vancouver in July. (Ethan Cairns/CBC)The suit alleges that despite VCHA’s knowledge of his worsening mental health and increased paranoia, Lo was permitted to remain on “extended leave” from a mental health facility where he had been receiving care.It claims that two weeks prior to the festival, Lo met with his psychiatrist, who determined his mental health “appeared to be deteroriating and that his delusions appeared to be increasing … all of this was known or knowable by the defendant VCHA.”In early September, a judge found Lo was mentally fit to stand trial after a three-day hearing. At issue was not the state of Lo’s mental health on April 26, but rather his present condition. None of the claims made in Lind’s proposed lawsuit have been proven in court, and it has not yet been certified as a class-action proceeding.ABOUT THE AUTHORMichelle Ghoussoub is a reporter and anchor for CBC News based in Vancouver. She has received two nominations for the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Reporter and won an RTDNA for Investigative Excellence. She can be reached at michelle.ghoussoub@cbc.ca.
Lapu-Lapu Day festival victim files proposed class-action lawsuit
