A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected a $28-million settlement in a sex-abuse lawsuit against a Catholic religious order because of the high legal fees associated with the agreement.
The agreement would have awarded the Montreal law firm Arsenault, Dufresne and Wee, representing the plaintiffs, more than $8 million in fees.
Justice Thomas M Davis wrote in a 4 July decision that those fees were “excessive” and not in the interest of the more than 375 sexual-abuse victims who were part of the class action.
Davis says the firm did “remarkable work” and expects a new agreement with reasonable fees can be reached and resubmitted to the court.
The suit against the Quebec-based Catholic religious order the Clerics of St-Viateur involved acts committed between 1935 and the present day at more than 20 establishments run by the group, including boarding schools.
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