When Is A Settlement Not A Settlement?

The recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Deschenes v. Lalonde provides an example of one of those very rare occasions when a party to a settlement can obtain an order setting the settlement agreement aside.

As one might expect, a party to a settlement who is merely stricken by "buyer's remorse" because he or she thinks that a better deal could have been achieved is not going to be able to undo a binding settlement agreement.

However, there are circumstances in which a settlement can be set aside.

In this case, Ms. Deschenes alleged that she was sexually assaulted as a child by a priest in the early 1970s. She sued the priest and the local diocese, claiming it was vicariously liable for the priest's actions and also liable in negligence for failing to prevent the assaults. The diocese insisted that it had no knowledge of the priest's prior abuse of others until many years after the assaults on Ms. Deschenes had ended. A finding that the diocese