Justice Barnes / Peter Dricoll , is the " GOC " now allowed to TAX and PROFIT from retroactive $$$ THEY CLAWEDBACK ILLEGALLY from a Veterans Disability ??? Feb.14/15,2013 CTV NATIONAL , HEADLINE NEWS , 33 MILLION CANADIANS WATCHING ...

Will's Ridge wrote:Justice Barnes,
It with great hesitancy that i write this letter. I have reviewed the proposed settlement that was bought to fruition after numerous bargaining sessions between the plaintiff's and defendant's representatives. I am in agreement with the majority of the agreement, however, I am troubled by the fact that we, the plaintiffs, must assume the huge legal fees resulting from this lawsuit. I am informed that you personally referred to the government's actions in this clawback as being illegal? I have reviewed numerous case files regarding the awarding, or lack thereof, of legal fees in class action lawsuits. It seems to me, a layperson with no experience in your world of legalities, case law reviews etc. that there is always a huge burden to prove that one side or the other in these lawsuits should shoulder all the accumulated legal fees. In fact, I recently obtained a personal family file from the Newfoundland Supreme Court (File # 1983 No. 844) that dated back to 1982 whereby a neighbour maliciously tried to partition off five of our acres and called these acres her own. I was a young man and actually was witness to her callousness when she stated to my uncle "Go ahead take me to court, you can't afford to take that route with your seven kids to feed". All documentation, including a 1904 land grant signed by the king's representative, was all the evidence the family needed when we did in fact muster up the required funds to take this wealthy Doctor to court. I was very surprised when I noted in the file that the judge in 1983 did not rule that this neighbour had to assume ALL legal fees ,but that both parties had to pay their own fees. Basically, the judge summarized in writing that he felt the Doctor actually thought the land was hers and did not act maliciously, even though there were numerous statements on file to the contrary.

My point is that you must have had a very very good reason on which to base your statement that the government acted illegally in continuing the clawback of our LTD payments. Did you base this assertion on sound reasoning after reviewing the complete file, including the files and statements of several inter-governmental departments that ALL advised the government of the day to cease and desist this unlawful clawback? I realize there is a huge burden of proof when awarding legal costs to one side or the other in these legal battles, however, I strongly suspect this burden of proof has been amply met in this case, otherwise you and others would not have utilized the term "ILLEGAL" is discussing GOC's participation.

I do not know what your legal parameters, limits and leeway in bringing this case to closure are, however, I would like to make the following recommendations:
1) Approve this settlement as submitted with the exception of the disposition of legal fees;
2) Have the class members be reimbursed what they are owed with the exception of the legal fees. These fees should be deducted from the members as stated in the agreement, however, the funds should be placed in trust pending final resolution;
3) Conduct or cause to be conducted a full review of the decision to have the class assume these fees;
4) Find in favour of the class and redistribute the funds held in trust back to the members; and
5) Find the GOC liable for all legal fees due to their malicious and illegal participation in these clawbacks.

In summary, I do not know if you have the jurisdiction or power to implement any or all of my recommendations but I hope you give this your full attention and possibly seek other internal avenues which could result in the justice I seek.


G. A. Tobin
Service Number R40-547-996
Veteran Affairs File No. K5939053