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Families reach $5.5-million settlement in lawsuit against Quebec long-term care home

MONTREAL — Lawyers representing families of a Montreal-area long-term care home devastated during the pandemic’s first wave say they’ve reached a $5.5-million settlement with the facility’s owners.
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A woman prays in front of the Herron seniors residence Monday, April 13, 2020, in Dorval, near Montreal’s Trudeau airport. Families have reached a $5.5-million settlement in a class action filed in Quebec Superior Court last year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

MONTREAL — Lawyers representing families of a Montreal-area long-term care home devastated during the pandemic’s first wave say they’ve reached a $5.5-million settlement with the facility’s owners.

A judge will need to authorize the agreement, with a court date scheduled for April 30.

Lawyer Arthur Wechsler says six months after a judge’s approval a claims process will take place, with a goal of wrapping up payments to class action members by the end of 2021.

Wechsler says there were about 134 residents at the facility in April 2020 when the class action was filed.

The settlement would be distributed to any surviving spouses or children of the residents who died and to any residents who didn’t pass away.

Herron was particularly hard hit during the first wave of COVID-19, with 47 deaths at the Dorval, Que., facility. The Crown is weighing whether to lay criminal charges.