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A judge has ruled that businesses and residents of Caledonia can move forward with a class-action lawsuit against the Ontario government and provincial police for not ending a lengthy blockade by aboriginal protesters.

Justice David Crane's decision is noteworthy because it is one of the few times in recent years that a proposed class-action lawsuit against the Crown has been allowed to proceed to trial.

One business owner, Margaret Cook, who owns a greenhouse and garden supply store on Highway 6, claims in court documents that she lost nearly $200,000 in revenue when traffic was cut off because of the protest.

It began four years ago this month when members of the Six Nations Confederacy began occupying a 40-hectare subdivision known as Douglas Creek Estates, claiming aboriginal title over the land, then owned by a private developer, Henco Industries Ltd.

Several local residents allege they were continuously subjected to loud noises and drumming, in some cases received death threats and were accosted by demonstrators wearing camouflage gear and carrying bats.

"The major arteries of commerce, like Argyle St. (in Caledonia) and Highway 6 were closed for six weeks, which completely strangled the economy," John Findlay, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in an interview Tuesday.

Protesters also burned a railway bridge, threw a vehicle onto a road and shut down Hydro One's Caledonia transformer station, temporarily cutting off electricity. During the standoff, a Superior Court judge questioned why injunctions requiring demonstrators to stay off the disputed land were not being respected.

The main issue in the trial will be whether the Ontario Provincial Police failed to provide required services to the people of Caledonia.

In addition to the OPP and Her Majesty the Queen (by way of the Ontario government), former OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface and Insp. Brian Haggith, commander of the Caledonia detachment, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Kirk Baert, a Toronto-based class-action lawyer who is not involved in the case, said Canadian courts have not looked favourably in recent times on lawsuits filed against the Crown for such things as failing to stop the spread of West Nile virus and not doing enough to protect health-care workers from SARS.

What sets the Caledonia case apart is that it concerns activity the Crown was directly involved in – policing – as opposed to policies or regulations that were developed by the government, which was the focus of the other cases, he said.

"The other thing I found interesting is that it is a claim for failing to enforce the law, which is not something you generally sue for," Baert told the Star Tuesday.

Findlay estimates there could be as many as 200 business owners in downtown Caledonia who suffered economic losses, as well as many businesses along Highway 6.

He also believes as many as 442 local homeowners might have been inconvenienced, while building contractors also lost money.

In certifying the case as a class proceeding, Crane said each group is essentially making the same claim, that police were negligent in carrying out their duties.