by LAWPRO

civil-litigation

The following notice was sent out by the Operational Support Branch, Court Services Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General on May 5, 2025.

On May 5, 2025, Ontario Regulation 50/25 was filed to amend the Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194. This regulation makes various changes across two key areas: the disclosure of partial settlement agreements and judicial approval of settlements involving parties under disability.

In summary, the new regulation amends or creates eight rules and one form to:

  • update the procedure to seek judicial approval of settlements involving a party under disability, including redaction requirements modelled on the requirements for rule 15.04 motions by a lawyer to be removed from the record (r. 7.08);
  • replace two existing provisions with a new rule to clarify the proceedings and steps to which Rule 49 applies (r. 49.01.1);
  • clarify that a settlement under Rule 49 involving a party under disability is not binding on that party unless approved by a judge under rule 7.08 except as otherwise provided by that rule (r. 49.08);
  • introduce a new framework setting out the procedure to disclose partial settlement agreements and the consequences for failure to disclose such agreements as required (r. 49.14);
  • create a new Form 49E, Terms of Partial Settlement Agreement, to be used for disclosure; and
  • make minor consequential amendments (title of Rule 49 and text of rr. 49.01, 49.02, 49.03, 49.10)

The new Form 49E is available for download on the Ontario Court Forms website.

The amendments in the regulation and the associated Form 49E will come into force on June 16, 2025, six weeks after the date of filing.

A summary of O. Reg. 50/25 is available on Ontario’s Regulatory Registry at 25-MAG002.

Categories: Civil Litigation