Vivienne ZHANG

ADVERTISEMENT Don't want ads? Subscribe or login now. By Marina Sampson, Byron Shaw and Vivienne Zhang ( July 3, 2025, 11:56 AM EDT) -- New amendments to Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure have brought new obligations for settling parties.... Get instant access to the one-stop news source for business lawyers Register Now! Register for a complimentary 14-day trial with access to all sections and newsletters.

With all the talk about Civil Rules Review, and the deadline for comment on the Phase 2 paper today, some may have overlooked that new amendments to Rules 49 and 7 affecting settlements come into force today. Here are the highlights. Ontario courts have required parties in multi-party litigation to promptly disclose to the court and to non-settling parties partial settlement agreements that change the litigation landscape in a way that alters the dynamics of the litigation.

Pierringer agreements can be a valuable tool to encourage settlement in multi-party litigation. They can contribute to reducing the delays, expense, and stress of litigation; they can also provide some measure of finality for settling defendants. In multi-party litigation, non-settling and settling defendants may disagree on whether the court should approve a Pierringer agreement.