Though it was well-known that Nova Scotia’s court battle over the Bluenose II was costly, new documents reveal the provincial government’s legal fees went way over budget.

The family of the schooner’s original designer took the province to court in 2012 over copyright and moral rights claims regarding the restoration of the Bluenose II, ultimately reaching a settlement.

The lawsuit cost the province $1.3 million, mostly from legal fees.

However, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the province budgeted only $200,000 for legal fees — fees which ultimately totaled about $1 million.

“This is just another chapter in that story with another piece of the Bluenose Project that is again far over-budget, and the government spent far more than it expected to,” said Kevin Lacey, the federation’s Atlantic Canada director.

The NDP was in power when the lawsuit was launched in October 2012, but a spokesperson for the party says nobody currently in the party’s caucus was involved with the file at the time.

At the time, the province hired and Ontario law firm to take on the case, through an untendered procurement process.

“There's lots of blame to go around with both colours of political parties while in government,” said Lacey.

Deputy Premier Diana Whalen says she’s not concerned with the decision to hire the Ontario firm — which was known for its expertise in intellectual property law — because the province was looking for a unique skill set.

But she says a Liberal government would not have gone to court at all.

“I really do hold the NDP accountable and really at fault for starting this process in the first place,” she said.

Whalen said that when the Liberals came to power in October 2013, they realized the costs were rising with no end and sight, and acted.

“We investigated it, we saw the legal costs were rising far beyond what we could settle for and we simply made a settlement which actually cut the losses to the province and I think that's exactly what people would expect us to do,” she said.

In the end, the settlement reached was worth $300,000.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, of the $1 million in legal fees, around $865,000 was incurred under the NDP, while about $150,000 was under the Liberals.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster