Lake Alice survivors: Relief and distress over Crown move on legal fees

A Lake Alice survivor who will receive an unfair compensation payment says she is disappointed that the refunds are not adjusted for inflation.

Government pays compensation to survivors Those who did not receive as much compensation as subsequent plaintiffs due to the payment of attorney fees to the law firm that represented them.

In 2001, the Crown reached a $6.5 million settlement with 95 survivors, but the law firm representing them, Grant Cameron & Associates, cut an estimated $2.6 million from the total settlement before payments were made.

This meant that survivors received an average of $41,000, less $27,000 in legal costs, whereas subsequent claimants received an average of $70,000 because the Crown covered the legal costs.

Stanford said the announcement redressed “decades of historical injustice” and criticized previous governments for not correcting it.

“Since the second round, we have always paid legal fees and legal fees for other claimants as well. It was a real sense of frustration for the survivors. They mentioned this to me when I met with them. The media mentioned this in the Royal Commission report, you can see it in black and white; “When you do something for one group and not for another, it’s an injustice.”

Payments will range from $15,000 to $55,000, depending on the situation, Stanford said.

He said compensation would not be adjusted for inflation, which he said was a consistent approach.

“We’ve been paying compensation to Alice Lake survivors for 20 years, not adjusted for inflation. We’re just making sure the decisions we make are consistent.”

Stanford said he spoke to survivors before the announcement and they were “overwhelmed” that the issue was finally being addressed.

“In fact, most were reticent on the phone and extraordinarily grateful to this government for righting this wrong. Lake Alice survivors have suffered extraordinary hardship for decades. They have not been treated well by successive governments and the Crown,” he said.

‘It took a long time’

Mike Ferriss, executive director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, worked with Lake Alice survivors and said some were pleased and relieved that the disparity had been addressed.

“This was always the easiest thing a government could do to fix the disparity between first-round claimants and second-round claimants. The fact that it has taken this long is a real shame for all the people who should have received this a long time ago,” he said.

But one survivor, who said he wanted to be known as ‘Mr AA’, said it was “nonsense” that the payments were not adjusted for inflation, given that later claimants were compensated for the true value of their costs.

“I thought it would happen. I gave evidence to the Royal Commission and that was one of my bitches, about paying the legal costs. And then in the other round they didn’t have to do that. So they actually did it a lot better than we would have in the agreement,” he said.

“What they’re offering is take it or leave it. So you’d be a fool not to take it.”

Crown reluctant to cover legal costs in time, lawyer says

Lawyer Grant Cameron told RNZ there were strong submissions at the time that the Crown should pay legal costs, but the firm faced resistance.

“During this process we said to the Crown ‘you can pay our costs to do this work and bring this to your attention’ but it didn’t want to do that. We said we could probably do it on a legal aid basis but the Crown would still have to cover that cost,” he said.

Ultimately, the only way to cover plaintiff’s attorney fees was on a contingency fee basis.

“The law firm actually couldn’t charge these clients. They didn’t have the money. But at the end of the day, we would have to be paid out of whatever was recovered. The Crown was fully aware of this throughout the whole process, and Cameron said, “These people would be facing significant legal costs if and when the matter was resolved.” “I knew it very well,” he said.

He said there was no possible basis for any law firm working on complex legal problems for about 100 clients over several years not to receive some compensation for its services.

Cameron had asked the Crown 13 times during the first round of settlements to pay expenses for his firm’s clients, but the Crown repeatedly refused.

“The first group was treated unfairly and it’s good that they’re being paid now,” he said.

Fees will not be paid to close relatives; Claimants must be alive to make a claim, Stanford said. Like not adjusting them for inflation, this was for consistency.

In those cases, fees should go directly to the next of kin, Ferriss said.

“There’s nothing consistent about any of this. Trying to conform to some kind of consistency is inconsistent, it would be ironic,” he said.

“We know there is generational harm, and I think that means fixing that, too.”

The announcement came two weeks before a national apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based institutions. Ferris said that would inspire confidence.

“Reparation is not just financial, and I think an important point that most survivors emphasize, and that we certainly emphasize, is that reparation is about making sure that things that have happened in the past don’t happen again in the future.”

But Mr AA said he felt the announcement had been rushed ahead of the apology.

“This is what happens when you try to rush things. Some of the survivors will still be held back,” he said.

Survivors may request reimbursement to the Ministry of Health until June 30, 2025.