Ruling reserved in disabled RCMP, military vets settlements

The Federal Court in Halifax has reserved a decision in two class-action lawsuit settlements involving RCMP and military veterans with disabilities.

Lawyers for the veterans and the federal government were in court today seeking the approval of settlements worth $70 million for retired RCMP officers and $38.6 million for military veterans.

The RCMP case involves officers whose long-term disability payments were cut by the same amount they received in monthly disability pension payments through Veterans Affairs.

David White, the lead plaintiff in the RCMP class-action, says the roughly 1,000 retired Mounties with disabilities who would be covered by their agreement are supportive of the deal and are eager to close the case.

White says the $70-million agreement would mean that the clawback would end for all RCMP veterans now receiving benefits and Mounties who are medically released in the future.

The $38.6-million settlement in the lawsuit involving military veterans was reached on the cost of living provisions with veterans who were awarded an $887.8-million settlement last year.

At issue in that case was a long-standing federal practice of clawing back the military pensions of injured soldiers by the amount of disability payments they received.