Estabrooks settlement nearly finalized
While there are still some details to be worked out, a settlement agreement between victims of Kenneth Estabrooks and the City of Saint John has been completed.
Justice Darrell Stephenson OK’d the agreement during a hearing in Saint John Thursday morning, approving a $16.5-million deal.
“The settlement is fair, reasonable and in the best interest of the class,” Stephenson said.
He said it not only brought some certainty to class members, but eliminated the need for them to testify in what would likely have been a drawn-out trial.
The class-action suit was brought in 2013 by Robert Hayes, one of Estabrooks’ victims.
RELATED: Hayes and Other Victims File Class-Action Suit Against the City
It claimed Estabrooks used his position as a Saint John police officer to sexually abuse a number of people between 1953 and 1975.
It was also alleged he was transferred to the city’s works department when incidents came to light and that he continued to sexually abuse people there until his retirement in 1983.
Private investigators hired by the city found 263 people, mostly boys, may have been abused.
Estabrooks was convicted of four counts of indecent assault in 1999.
He died in prison in 2005 while serving a six-year sentence.
The exact amount each victim will receive from the settlement is not yet known.
Justice Stephenson asked lawyers for all parties to prepare submissions regarding a $2.3-million payout for a litigation fund as part of the case.
He said that amount, along with other legal fees and expenses to be paid out of the settlement, means only 43.5 per cent of the settlement will actually go to the class members.
“I don’t want this to become some benchmark precedent,” Stephenson said.
Among the settled amounts, Hayes will receive an honorarium of $25,000 for acting as the representative plaintiff.
Justice Stephenson said it was clear Hayes was “perhaps more than entitled” to the amount.
“I salute your tenacity and your courage in seeing this through,” the justice said to Hayes.
