An attorney representing the widow of U.S. Delta Force soldier Sgt. Christopher Speer filed a court application to try to enforce a $134-million wrongful death claim against Omar Khadr two weeks before lawyers for the former Guantanamo Bay detainee negotiated a confidential settlement in the case.

Court records show the application to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice was filed June 8. The 11-page application from lawyers for Tabitha Speer and retired special forces soldier Layne Morris, who was injured in the 2002 firefight where Khadr was shot and captured in Afghanistan, requests an emergency injunction to stop the Canadian government from giving Khadr and his lawyers the reported $10.5-million settlement.

Khadr’s lawyer, John Phillips, said Wednesday that he has not yet seen the legal challenge but confirmed that private mediation with representatives from the Department of Justice took place June 21 and 22. The results of the mediation remain confidential, he said.

Reached in Utah, Morris declined an interview request. His Toronto attorney, David Winer, also said he could not comment on any aspects of the case.

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The Trudeau government once again remained quiet Wednesday, refusing to acknowledge reports that began Monday night claiming Ottawa will apologize to Khadr and pay more than $10 million to compensate him for the years of abuse he endured as a teenager in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan.

No date has been set for the application to ask an Ontario court to enforce the Utah judgment but any payout for Khadr’s civil case, which began in 2004, could once again be delayed if the injunction is granted.

Toronto lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo said the Ontario court would have to consider specific criteria in deciding whether to uphold the huge settlement.

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The fact that Khadr was still in custody when the application began and the sheer amount of the default judgment — a figure never seen in Canadian cases —would be part of the argument and make it difficult to enforce, he said.

But the facts of the case would not be re-tried here, Cavaluzzo said, which means “they could bring a motion on an expedited basis within six months or so; it should not take a long time.”

Khadr, who was 15 at the time of the firefight, is the only captive the Pentagon has prosecuted for the death of an American service member. He was accused of throwing a grenade that fatally wounded Speer in Afghanistan.

The 30-year-old is now living in Edmonton, free on bail pending an appeal of his Guantanamo conviction. He said once he returned to Canada that he agreed to plea guilty in 2010, as he believed it was his only chance to ever leave the notorious U.S. prison in Cuba.

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