The court approved the settlement of a tort claim for a disabled plaintiff, Matus Conka, for $950,000.00 plus costs and disbursements.
The primary focus of the endorsement was to determine the reasonableness of the contingency fee agreement between the plaintiffs and their counsel.
Applying the principles from Henricks-Hunter, the court assessed the fairness of the agreement and the reasonableness of the fees, considering factors such as time expended, complexity, results achieved, and risk assumed.
While the solicitor sought 25% of the settlement, the court reduced the approved fees, allowing a premium of $50,000 plus HST over the docketed time, balancing fairness to the plaintiff and the solicitor.