The $28 million settlement agreement reached between the Clercs de Saint-Viateur and victims of sexual abuse was finally adopted Monday by the Quebec Court of Appeal, after the victims’ lawyers agreed to reduce their professional fees from $8 million to $5.6 million.
Last July, Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Davis dismissed the request to approve the settlement agreement reached in the class action filed in 2017. The magistrate estimated that the fees provided for the lawyers of victims — set at 25% of the settlement fund, which equates to more than $8 million — were “unreasonable”. The decision had been appealed.
The judgment rendered Monday by the Quebec Court of Appeal takes note of the fact that the lawyers of the firm Arsenault, Dufresne, Wee have agreed, “in a gesture of good faith”, to reduce their fees from 25% to 20% of the fund. settlement amounting to $5.6 million. In a press release sent to the media on Wednesday, the lawyers claim to have made this gesture “in order to maintain trust with the members” of the class action, that is to say the victims.
“The Court is able to conclude that the amount of fees now claimed by the members’ lawyers, 20% of the settlement fund, is reasonable,” wrote Judge Mark Schrager, who signed the decision for the Court of Appeals. The lawyers have also pledged to contribute nearly $1 million to the Class Action Relief Fund.
The drop in the percentage of lawyers’ fees “represents a savings of $1,400,000 for the members”, mentions the magistrate. More than 375 victims are registered in the collective action which aims to compensate people who have suffered sexual assault by a religious member of the Clercs of Saint-Viateur or by a lay employee of the congregation from 1935 to today.
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