Nobody Works For Free!

When I approach someone to do work for me I expect that I will pay them for their efforts but if the contractor agrees that they will go after my relatives for payment and they find that my relatives object to being a party to the agreement then the contractor has to take the hit or go after me for payment. I don't benefit from this action so why should I get involved in payment.

Same-sex survivors upset by ruling on pension case

Mar 21, 2008 04:30 AM

Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER

Surviving partners of same-sex relationships are disappointed the federal government is holding up their pension cheques and has tossed up a legal roadblock that could see lawyers behind their groundbreaking class action lawsuit losing millions in legal fees.

"Nobody works for free," said Lothar Zeterberg, a retired Vancouver convenience store owner whose partner, Eric Herman, died in 1987. "They (class action lawyers) spent time and money and all the rest of it doing this, so they should be compensated. No question about that."

Zeterberg is one of an estimated 1,500 Canadians affected by a class action lawsuit. The Supreme Court ruled last year that the federal government violated the equality rights of gays and lesbians by denying Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits to those whose same-sex partners died before Jan. 1, 1998.

A spokesperson for the human resources department said 408 class members are now getting a "monthly interim payment." Pension arrears will be paid after any appeals from a Feb. 29 ruling by an Ontario Superior Court judge.

That ruling invalidated a retainer agreement approved by Ontario's Superior Court in 2004, which called for class action counsel to be paid 50 per cent of certain pension fund arrears.

But in her Feb. 29 ruling, Justice Ellen Macdonald, who had approved the arrangement, accepted arguments from federal lawyers that a section of the Canada Pension Plan invalidates the deal. The CPP provision prevents pension funds from being transferred or claimed by others. It's unclear how fees will be recouped.

Lawyers met with the judge yesterday and set aside April 29 for legal arguments on fee payments.