Judge approves Broncos Gofundme payments
Despite some opposition, families to share in uneven split of $15M
Scott Thomas choked back tears in the moments after a Saskatoon judge approved plans to distribute almost $15 million to the families affected when the Humboldt Broncos hockey team’s bus crashed on a Saskatchewan highway this spring.
Thomas, whose 18-year-old son Evan was among the 16 people killed in the crash north of Tisdale, told reporters his family wants to use the money to give other teenage athletes the adulthood their son will never experience.
“That’s what this means to us, to our family — the opportunity to give back to people and just hopefully do well for our son,” an emotional Thomas said outside Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on Wednesday morning.
Moments earlier, Justice Neil Gabrielson approved a five-member advisory committee’s plan to distribute the proceeds of what is thought to be the largest online fundraiser in Canadian history, which attracted donations from around the world.
Under the plan, made public last week, the 13 people who survived the crash will each receive $425,000 in addition to a previous interim payment of $50,000.
The families of the deceased will each receive $475,000, plus the interim payment, for a total of $525,000.
The remaining money, about $207,000, will be divided among the 13 people who survived, court heard.
“The simplicity and the reasonableness of the recommendation appeals to me,” Gabrielson said before approving the draft court order that will get the money flowing and effectively end the sevenmonth legal process to deal with the Gofundme money.
Describing the process as a “rare occasion that from great tragedy comes great generosity,” the judge went on to praise the independent committee tasked with conducting research and interviews, and determining how the money would be divided.
“We can face adversity and move forward if everyone remains Humboldt strong,” he added.
The proposal was championed in court by Jeff Lee, the MLT Aikins LLP partner representing the Humboldt Strong Memorial Fund Inc., a non-profit corporation established this summer to control the proceeds of the online fundraiser.
Lee told court the plan made sense because it was transparent and fair, because the committee’s report was compelling and cogent, and because the difference between it and an equal division of the money was “relatively modest.”
Lawyers representing the Thomas family and that of Adam Herold, a 16-year-old player who also died in the crash, concurred. Kevin Mellor, who spoke for the Herolds, said his clients had no problems with the report and “want to move on with their life.”
In its report, the committee said three unidentified families were “entrenched” in the view that an equal distribution of the funds was the best solution, and the only person to propose an alternative was Kerry Gellrich, a lawyer representing the parents of Logan Boulet.
Gellrich told court that dividing the funds equally “seems to be the intention of the trust” and there was never any indication that recipients of the “class gift” — meaning survivors and families of the dead — would be treated differently.
“They very strongly feel that this is the right thing to do,” Gellrich said of her clients.
She declined to answer reporters’ questions.
In its report, the committee said “the fundamental problem with an equal division is that the circumstances of the beneficiaries are not equal,” and that there is a “huge difference in emotional circumstances” between survivors and the families who lost a loved one.
Lee told reporters outside court that lawyers representing the 29 families have been canvassed, and he does not expect an appeal.
He went on to praise the process under which the money was distributed, which was guided by an untested piece of legislation designed to regulate “informal public appeals,” as a solid framework that allowed flexibility where necessary.
Gabrielson’s decision “achieved a result that I think satisfied most everyone involved through the extent we could do that through this process,” Lee added.
Thomas referenced the committee’s view that none of the 13 survivors and their families would trade places with any of the other 16 families for any amount of money, and those 16 would surrender the same to have their sons, daughters and partners back.
“We’d give any amount of money to have our son back, no question. So it’s been an emotional rollercoaster the last little while, for sure. Our family, and I think I can speak for every family, is happy it’s completed, for sure. Happy it’s done.”