A Peterborough neighbourhood group has launched an online fundraising campaign to cover a $22,500 settlement it must pay to formally end its legal challenge of the City of Peterborough’s use of strong mayor powers, with the group’s lawyer forgiving his legal fees in recognition of the financial impact of the settlement.
On Friday (December 19), Northcrest Neighbours for Fair Process (NNFP) announced it has launched a GoFundMe campaign after accepting a court-ordered settlement requiring the group — and its chair, Sarah McNeilly, personally — to pay $22,500 to the City of Peterborough and Brock Mission.
The payment is a condition of NNFP withdrawing its legal challenge of Mayor Jeff Leal’s use of his strong mayor powers to exempt Brock Mission’s proposed six-storey transitional housing project at 738 Chemong Road from the site plan control requirements that normally apply to projects of this kind.
As previously reported by kawarthaNOW, the settlement agreement followed NNFP’s decision to drop its case after the Ontario Superior Court ordered the group to post $30,000 in security for costs in order for the matter to proceed. NNFP has said it was unable to afford that upfront payment, preventing the case from being heard on its merits.
The court also ruled the City of Peterborough and Brock Mission were entitled to both the $30,000 security for costs and the costs of their motion, subject to any offer to settle with NNFP.
Justice Susan Woodley’s ruling was issued on November 20, seven weeks after she heard the City and Brock Mission’s motion that NNFP pay $30,000 security for costs in order for the case to proceed.
After that October 1 hearing, when the judge made it clear she would rule against NNFP and encouraged the parties to settle, the group made an offer to the City and Brock Mission to withdraw the case at no cost.
According to NNFP, the City and Brock Mission did not respond to that initial offer. Instead, after Judge Woodley issued her ruling on November 20, they demanded that NNFP and McNeilly pay $30,000 within 60 days to settle the case, and threatened to pursue another $100,000 in legal costs if a settlement was not reached by December 10.
After back-and-forth negotiations, all three parties agreed to a final settlement amount of $22,500 to end the case before it was ever heard.
“The $22,500 is what we are now required to pay simply to be allowed to walk away,” stated Deborah Berrill, member of NNFP’s executive committee, in a media release. “We are no longer fundraising to fight City Hall. Now, we are fundraising to finish this and to protect our chair, Sarah McNeilly, from facing financial harm.”
As a result of an earlier fundraising campaign, NNFP has around $8,000 available to put towards the settlement and must come up with an additional $15,000. If NNFP cannot raise the required funds, McNeilly becomes personally responsible for paying the settlement cost.
Recognizing the dire financial straits NNFP and McNeilly are facing, the group’s lawyer — Mark Pedersen, a partner with Belleville-based law firm O’Flynn Weese LLP — has forgiven NNFP’s outstanding legal fees so the group can redirect its remaining funds toward the settlement agreement.
In an email to NNFP, Pedersen described what the group encountered during the legal proceedings as “a series of misfortunes,” including “a municipal litigant that regards procedural leverage and obfuscation as appropriate means of litigating issues of societal importance” and “the unfortunate reality that access to justice is tremendously expensive.”
“As a general rule, I rarely cut my accounts,” Pedersen wrote. “This is an exception. Your pursuit truly does resonate with me, and I am happy to make this the exception to my usual rule.”
He added that, as a citizen, he was disappointed “that exposure to costs in the face of a question like that posed in your lawsuit is even a consideration.”
For her part, McNeilly called Pedersen’s decision to forgo his legal fees “a Christmas miracle.”
“But it’s not enough on its own,” McNeilly added. “We’re going to need another Christmas miracle, and that’s where our community comes in.”
NNFP says any funds raised will solely be used to cover the settlement costs so that no individual member of NNFP, including McNeilly, “bears the financial burden of having challenged a municipal decision.”
“The City is sending a message,” said McNeilly. “They’re making an example of me and my neighbours in order to tell the rest of Peterborough, ‘Challenge us, and we’ll make you pay.’ This fundraiser is asking the people of Peterborough to send a message back. It’s asking you, the people, to say, ‘We will not obey in advance.'”
For more information and to donate to the fundraiser, visit gofund.me/5b75d546b.
After NNFP announced the settlement agreement on December 17, kawarthaNOW reached out to the City of Peterborough for comment, but did not receive a response.
