Court of King's Bench of Manitoba's approval of Pierringer Agreements permits three of the defendants in a multi-party proceeding to settle

Fillmore Riley LLP filed a motion that sought approval of certain proportionate share settlement agreements and ancillary relief.

The net impact of the orders sought would be that the action would only continue against the non-settling defendants, and the settling defendants would be removed from the litigation. Mr. Justice Rempel granted the motion to have the settlement agreements approved as drafted. He also dismissed all claims and crossclaims against the settling defendants. 

The matter is significant for a couple of reasons. One, the court approved the Pierringer Agreements, which permitted three of the defendants in a multi-party proceeding to settle with the plaintiff and withdraw from the litigation, leaving the remaining defendants responsible only for the loss they caused, despite the objections of the non-settling defendants.

Two, the decision highlighted that the court should not refuse to approve Pierringer Agreements based on the fact that the non-settling defendants may face certain obstacles in obtaining pre-trial disclosure and evidence. The motions judge was satisfied that the potential prejudice to the non-settling defendants did not outweigh the overriding public interest that encourages out-of-court settlements.