A Vancouver Island grocery store has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by women who were secretly filmed in a staff washroom by a former employee, with the images later uploaded to a Russian pornography website.
The lawsuit was filed by former employees Jennifer Burke and Mallory Colter against Red Barn Market and Matthew Schwabe, a former assistant manager who was convicted of voyeurism in 2021.
In a ruling dated Dec. 8, the B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria ordered Red Barn at Mattick’s Ltd. to pay the settlement within 14 days. The court also directed Schwabe to turn over all recordings of the plaintiffs and assigned worldwide copyright of the material to the victims.
Police began investigating in 2016 after allegations emerged that women were being secretly recorded in the washroom at the Saanich, B.C., store. Schwabe was charged in 2019 and later pleaded guilty to unlawfully observing and recording eight women and unlawfully publishing intimate images of nine women. He was sentenced to 15 months in jail followed by two years of probation.
Under the settlement, five women whose images were distributed online will each receive $85,000. One woman whose images were not published will receive $25,000. Burke and Colter will each receive an additional $15,000 as representative plaintiffs.
The remainder of the settlement will go toward legal fees, which will be reduced by $25,000 for each additional victim identified whose images were recorded but not shared online.
The plaintiffs said they will donate a portion of their compensation to charity in recognition of unidentified victims. Schwabe filed for bankruptcy in 2018.