ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A lawyer for plaintiffs who attended residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador says an update on compensation talks is coming May 10.

Steven Cooper says all parties have agreed not to say more until they appear that day before a judge in provincial Supreme Court.

Lawyers for former students alleging abuse and cultural losses have been working with federal lawyers to reach a settlement by the end of May.

Otherwise, Cooper says the lawsuit would go ahead in September.

About 1,200 plaintiffs were left out of a federal apology in 2008 and related compensation package.

Lawyers for the federal government have argued Ottawa was not responsible for schools that opened before the province joined Confederation in 1949.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say Ottawa owed the same legal duty to aboriginal students after 1949 as elsewhere in Canada.