A dark chapter in the history of a top prep school became public yesterday when a former student filed a $15-million class-action suit alleging that the Selwyn House School was negligent in allowing a teacher to sexually molest him and other boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
The teacher, Leigh Seville, killed himself and his 81-year-old father when the school confronted him about an earlier allegation of abuse in 1991 after receiving an anonymous tip.
For nearly a century, the prestigious all-boys institution has educated the scions of the anglophone elite, from businessman Charles Bronfman to former Alcan CEO David Culver to several members of the Molson family.
The allegations, outlined in court papers filed in Montreal and Toronto, focus on Mr. Seville, who taught English and geography from about 1967 until his death.
But Selwyn House might be hit with even more allegations of sexual wrongdoing.
On hearing about the lawsuit, another former student told The Globe and Mail yesterday that he intends to tell police another Selwyn teacher fondled him.
"It was something out of Dickens," the ex-student said. "Anything the teacher told you to do, you did."
He said he tried four years ago to find the teacher to confront him, but the school wouldn't give him his address.
Headmaster William Mitchell said in an interview he had only found out about the lawsuit this week. "The allegations are very serious and we take them very seriously. We will investigate any allegations that will come forward."
He said the school got an anonymous tip in 1991 about Mr. Seville. "That was the first hint of any kind of misconduct by Mr. Seville."
Confronted about it, Mr. Seville denied the accusations. "He went home . . . he was absent the next day. In fact, he never returned to the school," Mr. Mitchell said.
A few days later, Mr. Seville and his father, John, were found dead in their locked car, his brother Brian recalled yesterday. "It was as much a surprise for us when we heard the news [of the deaths]as for anybody else."
A former pupil said the boys at the school were told that Mr. Seville killed himself because he was despondent over his father's ailing health.
Some alumni recalled that Mr. Seville liked to take his students on trips with him, to Florida or across Canada, once in a white convertible Cadillac.
Others depicted him as a strict, authoritarian figure prone to using a fishing rod to beat his students.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, identified in court filings by the initials M.G., says Mr. Seville assaulted him during a three-year period, starting in 1979, when he was a 12-year-old Grade 7 student.
"Seville had exhibited a similar pattern of behaviour, with other male youths, and this pattern was known to, or should have been known by, Seville's superiors and fellow employees," the statement of claim says.
Some of the sexual assaults took place at the school, but others were committed in Ontario, the court filing says.
"Seville seized upon his and the other [students']vulnerability, which included their small stature, inexperience and young age and Seville's position of dominance as a teacher," the document says.
"M.G. felt scared, shocked, confused, frustrated and ashamed. He was afraid that others would find out about the abuse."
The allegations have not been proven in court. The former student's lawsuit has not been certified as a class action yet. His lawyer, Bryan McPhadden, said his client hopes others will corroborate his claims.
The headmaster at the time of the suit's allegations did not answer a message left at his residence.
Mr. Mitchell, the headmaster since 1985, said Selwyn House did not suspect the teacher until 1991.
The tip was not specific, so the school couldn't pursue the case further after Mr. Seville's death, Mr. Mitchell said. "We did investigate as thoroughly as possible, but no other allegations came forth."
Mr. Mitchell sent an e-mail to alumni last night urging them not to comment to the media and allow him to be Selwyn's sole spokesman. "This is a difficult and challenging time for the school," he wrote in the e-mail.
Mr. Seville's death notice in a local paper said that he and his father died "peacefully at home."
It described him as a "dedicated teacher at Selwyn House for over 24 years."