Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 10, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A13 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A 13NEWS I WORLD LONDON — The family of Harry Dunn, the 19-year-old motorcyclist killed by a car driven on the wrong side of an English roadway by the wife of a U.S. official, filed a U.S. federal lawsuit against the driver, Anne Sacoolas, on Wednesday. The lawsuit, which claims wrongful death and seeks financial damages, represents a significant escalation in the yearlong campaign by Dunn’s par- ents to hold Sacoolas accountable. The case has been a source of fric- tion between British and American of- ficials. Sacoolas left Britain shortly af- ter the Aug. 27, 2019, accident, with the U.S. government asserting that she had diplomatic immunity. She returned to her home in northern Virginia. But in December, British po- lice charged her with causing death by dangerous driving. A British request for extradition was rejected by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed “disappointment.” In a meeting with Pompeo in July, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “reiterated the need for justice to be done for Harry Dunn and his family,” according to a spokesman for 10 Downing Street. The driver’s husband, Jonathan Sa- coolas, is named as a co-defendant in the U.S. civil suit, as the Dunn family attorneys say the vehicle driven in the accident, a Volvo SUV, was owned by him. Jonathan Sacoolas, who had diplo- matic status in Britain, was working for the U.S. government at a Royal Air Force base in Croughton, which is used by American intelligence agen- cies. In the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Virginia, the attorneys for Dunn’s parents assert Sacoolas did not call an ambulance or police after the head-on collision, although she had a cellphone with her. A passerby called the emer- gency service. The force of the collision left “blood and clothing embedded in the front windshield,” the lawsuit states. “She left Harry to suffer as he lay face down on the side of the road, afraid of dying, fully conscious with multiple broken bones, including open fractures on both legs and both arms, and internal injur- ies.” Sacoolas remained at the scene. An ambulance took 43 minutes to ap- pear, according to police, because call handlers mischaracterized the extent of Dunn’s injuries. He died soon after reaching a hospital in nearby Oxford. Two lawyers representing Anne Sa- coolas did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for com- ment. Also Wednesday, the parents of Dunn, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, met with the director of public prosecutions in London. British prosecutors have signalled that they might consider proceeding with a criminal trial against Sacoolas — in absentia or “virtually.” The diplomatic immunity that was claimed for Anne Sacoolas had been granted to family members of Amer- icans serving at the RAF base. As a re- sult of the Dunn family’s lobbying, the loophole was closed in July, by agree- ment between London and Washington. If a similar accident were to occur to- day, a spouse of a diplomat at the base would not be immune from British prosecution. Police say Sacoolas admitted that she was driving on the wrong side of the road. In Britain, vehicles drive on the left-hand side. There is no evidence Sacoolas was impaired or speeding. If a British court found her guilty of dangerous driving resulting in death, sentencing guide- lines recommend two to five years in jail. Dunn’s parents say that they con- tinue to grieve — and that the flight of Sacoolas to the United States under the protection of diplomatic immunity was deeply unfair. In an interview in August with The Post, Charles said of Anne Sacoolas: “She’s a mum of three. I’ve never been able to understand the fact that she is not setting a good example to those chil- dren whatsoever.” Dunn’s mother said, “It doesn’t mat- ter what country or who it was that has taken the life of someone’s loved one. Justice still needs to be done.” Radd Seiger, an adviser to the Dunn family, said Wednesday: “The parents wanted none of this. They have worked hard to avoid this. Mrs. Sacoolas and her advisers clearly do not consider the further misery this imposes on Harry’s family.” Seiger said the British foreign sec- retary would be filing a “friend of the court” brief supporting the lawsuit, a move he called “extraordinary.” Theodore Leopold, a lawyer repre- senting the Dunn family, said the law- suit must proceed in Virginia because that is where Sacoolas now resides. He said it was possible to bring wit- nesses from England to Virginia to testify — or to offer their testimony via remote video links or recorded depositions. As for the amount of money sought by the Dunn family, Leopold said, “That will be up to the jury.” Asked whether the case could settle, he said, “We’re al- ways ready to listen in good faith.” Legal analysts said the two sides would battle to see whether the civil case ever went to trial. Julie Ross, a law professor at George- town University, said the plaintiffs in such cases could argue that a Virginia court has jurisdiction because the de- fendant resides there. “The jurisdiction wouldn’t be a prob- lem,” she said. “There is no reason why you couldn’t proceed on the basis of jurisdiction because the defendant is there.” Several other preliminary issues would need to be decided before the case went forward, and these could lead the judge to dismiss the case, Ross said. She said that Sacoolas’s attorneys could argue for dismissal because the evidence and witnesses are in Brit- ain — meaning that a U.S. court is not the “appropriate forum.” Also, the court would need to decide which country’s law would apply to the case, and if it decided on British law, that, too, could help persuade a judge to dismiss the case, Ross said. “A lot of it depends on how much evidence is really needed to prove a wrongful-death case and how difficult or easy it is to take that evidence in the U.S. rather than pursue the case in the U.K.,” she said. “There could be a whole bunch of moves” on both sides, Ross said. — The Washington Post CRAIG RUTTLE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn: Justice still needs to be done. WILLIAM BOOTH AND KARLA ADAM Parents of motorcyclist killed in U.K. crash file U.S. lawsuit L ONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Wednesday threatened to over- ride elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement painfully negotiated with the European Union, a move that EU leaders charged — and a British minis- ter acknowledged — could breach inter- national law. The proposed legislation could amount to a negotiating tactic as London and Brussels try to hash out a perma- nent trade deal, to take effect when an 11-month transition period ends in December. It could also sour Britain’s relationship with its closest European allies, just when it needs them most, and increase the chances the United Kingdom quits the EU without a trade deal in place, risking further economic turmoil in the midst of a pandemic. Senior EU leaders blasted the idea. “Very concerned about announce- ments from the British government on its intentions to breach the Withdrawal Agreement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter. “This would break inter- national law and undermines trust.” Other European officials confessed they were unsure how to interpret what was happening. “You know, the British and Boris Johnson in particular are always in a bluffing strategy. We should remain calm, but we need to be prepared,” French Trade Minister Franck Riester told France’s BFM Business radio on Wednesday. “Because, in the eventual- ity of a no-deal, we must be absolutely prepared for the consequences, which will be difficult.” When Brandon Lewis, who serves in Johnson’s cabinet as the minister for Northern Ireland, was asked whether the proposed legislation would breach inter- national law, he conceded that it would, in “a very specific and limited way.” The proposed legislation introduced Wednesday in Parliament could un- ravel protections previously agreed upon by Britain and Europe to safe- guard peace in Northern Ireland. The bill would allow Britain to forgo re- quirements for inspections and paper- work for goods shipped across the Irish Sea from Northern Ireland to other parts of the United Kingdom. It would also allow Britain to set its own rules for providing targeted state aid to eco- nomic sectors in Northern Ireland, pos- sibly undermining European demands for “level playing fields.” The issue of how to manage the bor- der between the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the European Union, and Northern Ireland, which will leave the EU along with the rest of the United Kingdom, has been one of the most vexing in the long Brexit saga. Downing Street said the legislation, called the Internal Market Bill, is need- ed to set out trading rules between the United Kingdom and the EU if the two sides do not strike a deal by the end of the year. Johnson, in Parliament on Wednes- day, called the bill a “legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the proto- col which could lead to a border down the Irish Sea.” The bill would need to be debated and passed in both houses of Parliament be- fore becoming law. Johnson’s Conserva- tive party holds a comfortable majority in the House of Commons, and he can generally bank on support. But this latest move prompted backlash from within the party. Theresa May, who as Johnson’s pre- decessor exhausted many months try- ing to secure a Brexit deal, implored in the House of Commons, “How can the government reassure future inter- national partners that the U.K. can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs?” A second former prime minister from Johnson’s party, John Major, suggested Britain was selling cheap its hard-won trust. “Our signature on any treaty or agreement has been sacrosanct,” Ma- jor said in a statement. “If we lose our reputation for honouring the promises we make, we will have lost something beyond price that may never be re- gained.” Tobias Ellwood, a chair of the de- fence select committee, said to the BBC on Wednesday, “How can we look at countries such as China in the eye and complain about them breaching inter- national obligations over Hong Kong or indeed Russia with ballistic missile treaties or indeed Iran over the nuclear deal if we go down this road?” The head of the government’s legal department, Jonathan Jones, quit his post Tuesday, reportedly because of concerns over the legislation. The prime minister’s spokesman said the EU withdrawal agreement was not like other treaties and was agreed “at pace,” containing “ambiguities” that were always going to need clarification. During last year’s general election, Johnson described the deal as “oven ready.” Anand Menon, a professor of Euro- pean politics at King’s College London, assessed that Downing Street’s man- oeuvrings were aimed at a specific do- mestic audience. “They are signalling two things,” Menon said. “If there is a no-deal Brexit, Johnson will have been seen to have tried everything he could to stand up for Brit- ain’s interests. Even more interestingly, in the event there is a deal that involves a certain amount of concessions made by the prime minister, this actually shields him from accusations of selling out.” Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said moves by the Johnson government “some- times feel like a squid squirting a great pile of ink just to startle its predator… They create a fog of rhetoric that cre- ates a cover for retreating, just as the squid does.” He said it is possible Brit- ain could ultimately give ground on key areas in the current divorce talks — fishing rights and state aid are two ma- jor sticking points — and “just wanted a big domestic distraction.” But, he said, there are consequences. “The cumulative effect is to corrode trust in the administration,” he said. “And that’s dangerous if you are going to need to negotiate with various other international actors.” The United Kingdom hopes, once it is freed from Europe’s regulatory rules, it can strike new trade deals with coun- tries around the world, including the United States. Kim Darroch, Britain’s former am- bassador to Washington, told BBC’s Newsnight program that as he watches Johnson’s current handling of Brexit, he wonders if there is an “aspect of the way Donald Trump would have done it and how he is doing it.” In Brussels, policy-makers watched the bill’s unveiling with a mixture of resignation and dismay. Several diplo- mats said they were not sure whether the British move was a negotiating tac- tic or serious, but they also said they had given up trying to decide after years of stunts in the House of Commons. “Nothing surprises us anymore,” said one senior EU diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer a weary, frank assessment of Brussels’s view of London. “Let us see what they do at the last moment, not what they say.” — The Washington Post British PM threatens to override parts of withdrawal agreement EU leaders slam breach of Brexit deal KARLA ADAM, MICHAEL BIRNBAUM AND WILLIAM BOOTH ARIS OIKONOMOU, POOL PHOTO VIA AP European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the British government’s move to breach the Brexit deal would break international law and undermine trust. A_13_Sep-10-20_FP_01.indd A13 2020-09-09 10:41 PM ;