Laurentian receives $4.725M legal bill from insolvency monitor
A court hearing next week will seek approval for a $4.725 million legal bill from the legal firms helping Laurentian University emerge from insolvency.
The bill is from the monitor of the process, Ernst & Young, and firms it contracted to provide additional services between January and July of this year.
Under the Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA), the monitor in insolvency provides oversight of the restructuring process, acting as an independent observer and providing opinions to the court.
Services include working with creditors and other parties to the process to come to agreements on outstanding issues. In Laurentian's case, that included groups such as the former federated universities, outstanding union grievances, dealing with major lenders and creditors, among many other services.
The $4.725 million bill comes from three firms: Ernst & Young, which charged 3,787 hours at an average hourly billing rate of $606; accounting professionals at E&Y (referred to as 'EY FAAS') charged for an additional 780.7 hours at an average hourly billing rate of $562; and, Stikeman Elliott LLP charged for 2,146.5 professional hours at an average hourly rate of $928.
"It is the monitor’s view that its fees and disbursements and the fees and disbursements of EY FAAS and Stikeman are reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances having regard to the scope of activity undertaken by the monitor in the CCAA proceeding and the positive strides made in the applicant’s complex and comprehensive restructuring thus far," Ernst & Young said in its court filing.
"The efforts of the Monitor and its counsel … facilitated and assisted LU in successfully reaching significant achievements in its restructuring, with resulting benefits to its general body of creditors and other stakeholders."
The application to have the fees approved will be heard at a hearing Oct. 12. Laurentian has agreed on a plan to deal with its creditors and aims to emerge from insolvency in November.
Read the full document here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.