The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Donovan Molloy, has released his Report A-2018-022 under authority of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015. A summary of the Report is included below.

To view the Report in its entirety, please go to www.oipc.nl.ca/reports/commissioner

Report:	A-2018-022
Report Date:	September 5, 2018
Public Body:	Town of Paradise
Summary:	The Town of Paradise (the “Town”) received an access request seeking records, including, the minutes of a public meeting approving a legal settlement, a list of all active lawsuits against the Town and a list of all settled lawsuits against the Town for the past two years and all minutes approving the settlements. The Town provided access to the public minutes that it located. The Town also withheld privileged minutes relying on section 28(1)(c) of the ATIPPA, 2015. The Town provided the active lawsuit information requested but denied access to the settlement amounts, claiming section 30(1) (legal advice) and section 35(1)(f) and (g) (disclosure harmful to the financial or economic interests of a public body) of the ATIPPA, 2015. The Town also relied on settlement privilege to withhold the settlement amounts. The Commissioner determined that the Town conducted a reasonable search for the minutes even though not all minutes were located. The Commissioner further determined that the Town could not rely on section 35(1)(f) or (g) to withhold the settlement amounts. The Commissioner also found that section 30(1) does not contain an exception for settlement privilege and that the Town could not rely on common law settlement privilege as the ATIPPA, 2015 is an exhaustive code. The Commissioner recommended that the Town disclose the settlement amounts to the Applicant.

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