Human Rights: Claim Settled Against Some
In circumstances where the complaint is made against multiple respondents, where there has been a partial settlement effected by resolution against certain but not all respondents, the Tribunal will not be permitted to make adverse findings against the released parties.1
At the Tribunal hearing, the Tribunal made adverse findings of fact against the settled parties and concluded such initially named respondents had violated the Code.
The Divisional Court reversed this aspect of the decision:
In the circumstances of this case, the applicants were entitled to assume that, once the terms of the settlement reached had been fully finalized, they could safely disengage themselves entirely from the complaints process without fear of being in jeopardy of being the subject of adverse findings and conclusions by the Tribunal. It would be incomprehensible, and contrary to law, that a statutory procedure for the resolution of human rights complaints in Ontario could lead to findings of wrongdoing against a party who had been released from the complaints process through a settlement, and who had no formal notice of the hearing, was not a party to it, and did not participate.
To the same import is the decision of the Tribunal in Chard v Newton (Wright) in which it was stated that no adverse findings could be made against non-parties, albeit ones who were originally sued.
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