A who’s who of area charities – 855 of them – are named as plaintiffs in the $80-million bingo class-action lawsuit against Windsor and Tecumseh.

It’s a list of every single group that ever took out a bingo licence over two decades. Some — like the group Friends of Chris Lori, the former bobsled driver who hasn’t competed since the late 1990s — don’t even exist anymore.

But as the May 15 deadline approaches to opt out of the action, groups are beginning to come forward to state they’re not interested in pursuing their share of the claim.

Windsor Regional Hospital — seeking $200 million in city-county funding for a proposed new mega-hospital — was first to opt out of the bingo lawsuit. Windsor police have also opted out.

A number of other groups have followed, such as the Windsor Minor Hockey Association.

“We’re partners with the city and if the suit does pass obviously someone’s going to have to pay for it,” said WMHA president Dean Lapierre. “Maybe the city would have to raise ice or room rental costs.

“So the last thing we would want is to go after the city for any money that we were never expecting anyway.”

At issue is whether the city and town charged more than what it cost them to administer the charity bingo licences — in essence creating an illegal tax. They charged three per cent of the prize boards at every bingo event that was held dating back to 1993.

The stakes are high. The suit amounts to an estimated $70 million for Windsor and $7 million for Tecumseh, plus interest for the period the lawsuit covers, meaning it could amount to more than $80 million.

Local taxes may go up to cover that amount, given $80 million is 20 per cent of Windsor’s annual tax levy.

The Art Gallery of Windsor, which rents its space from the city for a dollar a year, will opt out.

“The city is very supportive of the art gallery,” said AGW board president Jim Marsh. “So we’re not going to harm them in any way.”

Likewise the University of Windsor will not join the class-action suit — and will encourage clubs connected to the school to do the same, though ultimately independent groups make their own decision, said spokesman John Coleman.

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra will also decline to take part.

“The board made the decision and there were two factors at play,” said WSO executive director Sheila Wisdom. “First, some members of the board did not like the fact that they were named parties to the suit without being consulted.

“And second, the orchestra has had a long-standing relationship with the City of Windsor. We have benefitted from bingos. And we continue to be a partner with the city so the board made the decision to opt out.”

Stephen Fields said the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has made a decision on opting out, but can’t release details ahead of its board meeting Tuesday night.

Scott Scantlebury, spokesman for the Greater Essex County District School Board said the issue is being discussed but a decision hasn’t yet been made. Another board representative had noted earlier that it was difficult to know precisely which schools were even part of the bingo lawsuit since until now the list wasn’t made public.

Brentwood decided at its Tuesday night board meeting to opt out. Then there are groups that don’t make sense any more, such as the Capitol Theatre — now owned by the city and presumably not party to a lawsuit.

The London-based Lerners law firm which launched the suit against the city eight years ago receives the opt-out requests from class-action members, but the firm is not disclosing who has opted out.

Peter Kryworuk, the lawyer who helped launch the lawsuit, declined comment other than to note even those who opt out are allowed to opt back in according to a ruling by Superior Court Justice Terrence Patterson.

“Justice Patterson on the Jan. 29 order ruled that all charities who have opted out will have the opportunity to re-consider their decision,” Kryworuk said.

Patterson also ruled that Windsor and Tecumseh had gone “too far” and created “undue influence” with their multi-media opt-out campaign. He therefore banned the city and the town from advertising on the issue any more than they already had.

Groups with little or no direct support from the city or town have not been as quick to opt out, however, and none will publicly comment.

“The city has intimidated everybody,” said one long-time volunteer whose charity participated in many bingos, but who did not want to be identified. “They’re making us look like we’re holding the community hostage and we’re going to take all this money that we don’t have any right to.

“But the charities reinvested that money back into the community. If all those charities didn’t run, the city would be destitute.”