Mount Cashel Abuse Survivors Win Financial Settlement

CBC News
May 23, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2013/05/23/nl-christian-brothers-settlement-523.html

Lawyers for survivors of abuse by Christian Brothers at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, seen here in this undated photo, have received a financial settlement. (CBC)

Men who were abused by Christian Brothers at the Mount Cashel Orphanage and several schools in St. John's have reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic organization.

The settlement is the result of the work of a committee that was set up last year after the Christian Brothers declared bankruptcy. The committee has represented 422 victims across North America, including about 90 victims from Newfoundland and Labrador.

Lawyer Geoff Budden represents about 90 men from Newfoundland and Labrador who were abused by Christian Brothers. (CBC )

Geoff Budden, the lawyer representing the N.L. victims, and a member of that committee, said the total financial settlement is worth $16.5 million.

The settlement will also enable the abuse survivors to continue lawsuits against other parties who may share responsibility for decades of abuse.

Budden added that about 70 other victims of abuse from Mount Cashel, represented by other lawyers, are involved in the same lawsuit that the committee is involved with, but those victims have not yet arrived at a settlement.

Budden said he hopes his clients will receive their share of the settlement before Christmas 2013.