By Alexandra Paul
Canada.com
May 6, 2011
http://www.canada.com/Federal+system+credited+with+catching+lawyer+over+billing/4736410/story.html
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| Residential school survivors are crediting a federal system of checks and balances for catching a Winnipeg lawyer who over-billed 26 survivors of nearly $400,000. |
WINNIPEG — Residential school survivors are crediting a federal system of checks and balances for catching a Winnipeg lawyer who over-billed 26 survivors of nearly $400,000.
"It's a shame someone would try to do this because you're taking advantage of the poorest of the poor," said Raymond Mason, head of Spirit Wind Inc. Manitoba, a group that represents survivors of Indian residential schools.
Meanwhile, the lawyer who over-billed clients said through his lawyer Thursday that he has raised $225,000 of the $388,000 he must repay.
And he is getting the rest of the money by the end of the month through mortgaging his land in Israel.
"This whole question was not over someone who refused to pay or would not accept responsibility, it's about how do you raise $388,000 in 30 days," said David Hill, who represents the lawyer trying to repay his clients.
The Winnipeg Free Press is forbidden by the Legal Professions Act from reporting the lawyer's name while he awaits a disciplinary hearing over misconduct charges in the case.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Shane Perlmutter outlined the trouble with the over-billings in a 30-page written judgment that dismissed the lawyer's challenge for leniency and his request for an extension to repay the money.
The judgment said some of the fees went to buy land and property in Israel and suggested that if the lawyer decided to leave Canada for good, most of the assets would be beyond the reach of Canadian authorities.
"This thing about him having assets in Israel is a bit of a red herring. It doesn't mean he's a flight risk. He's got family here. He's got a 90-year-old mother in Manitoba. He's hardly a flight risk," Hill said.
The lawyer held back 15 per cent of settlement awards because he believed contingency agreements authorized it.
Clients signed agreements to pay the lawyer an extra fee of 15 per cent to be taken off the top of each of their settlements, Hill said.
Under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, Canada pays the claimant's award and an extra 15 per cent of the award as a contribution toward legal fees. A lawyer may charge up to an additional 15 per cent, to come out of the claimant's award, for a maximum of 30 per cent.
Federal adjudicators review legal fees and determine if lawyers are eligible for any part of the extra 15 per cent.
Instead of waiting for the review, the lawyer relied on his contingency agreements to take the full 15 per cent top-up.
The federal adjudicator scaled back the fees for all 26 of them to a maximum top-up of one per cent to two per cent per case.
Mason said it's thanks to that system the over-billing was caught.
"Every client is asked if they are happy with the legal fees they're being charged. And if they feel like they are being overcharged, a federal adjudicator will look in it," Mason said.
Survivors and their families can appreciate the true value of the service because of what's happened in Winnipeg, he said.
"I'm glad the service is there for the people," Mason said.
Contact: alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
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