On October 28, 2016, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) issued its
amended Practice Direction on Settlement Conferences
to provide more detail about the privileged and confidential status
of information exchanged during an OEB-convened Settlement
Conference. The updates to the Practice Direction on Settlement Conferences
appear to have been prompted, at least in part, by OEB decisions in
2015 (described in an earlier
post) that rejected two Settlement Proposals because the
confidentiality wording in those agreements was different from the
then-current version of the Practice Direction on Settlement
Conferences.
As described in the OEB's cover letter, the current updates to the Practice Direction on Settlement Conferences
make clear that, except in very limited circumstances, all
information, data, documents, offers, admissions and similar
exchanges during a Settlement Conference are "strictly
confidential, privileged and without prejudice." The only time
when such
