HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has ruled lawyers representing victims of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children are entitled to 17 per-cent of the overall class action settlement, not 19 per-cent as they had requested.
The court ruling was released to Wagners law firm Thursday afternoon, and Global News obtained a copy of the 27-page decision.
The document stated the legal fee requested by Wagners was $6.6 million, or 19.4 per-cent of the $34 million class action settlement.
Justice Arthur LeBlanc cited two cases with lower proportional fee ranges paid to lawyers for class action lawsuits and wrote: “I conclude that a reasonable class counsel fee in this case is 17 percent of the total recovery.”
That means Wagners will be paid approximately $5.78 million for his team’s work over the past 16 years, representing the home’s victims.
In July 2013, the victims of the home were awarded a settlement valued at $5 million. An additional $29 million was awarded this year.
Last week Premier Stephen McNeil publicly apologized on behalf of the provincial government for the mistreatment and abuse suffered at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.
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