Air Park withdraws its libel claim against Gazette, Warren and Dennis

By Pepper Parr

October 31st, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

Sometime before noon yesterday, Justice P. A. Daley signed an Order. It reads as follows:

This Motion made by the Plaintiff for an Order dismissing the within action without costs was read this day at the City of Brampton.

ON READING the consent, file:

1: THIS COURT ORDERS that the within action be and the same is hereby dismissed without costs.

THIS COURT ORDERS, in accordance with the consent, that the terms of the settlement of the action are confidential.

Which means we, the Gazette and the other people involved in this court case can’t say what the specifics of the agreement that was reached actually are.

Vince Rossi, president of the Burlington Executive Air Park.

We can tell you that the Plaintiff was the Burlington Air Park Inc. and that the Defendants were the Burlington Gazette, Pepper Parr, Vanessa Warren and Monte Dennis.

The Air Park sued the defendants for libel based on stories the Gazette published and letters to the Editor that Warren and Dennis wrote.

The action began in 2014 and concluded yesterday. The man who did the suing decided he didn’t want to proceed.

Civil trials are based on evidence that is to a large degree paper based – lots of it. The documentation that was prepared for trial was assembled by Vanessa Warren who did an exceptional job.

In civil matters there is a well-defined process that involves a lot of paper and the use of expensive lawyers.

The last stage, before a trial can take place is called a Pre-Trial conference where the lawyers meet with a Judge to determine what the issue is and how long a trial would take.

We need to be very careful here because we are not allowed to say what was discussed during the Pre-trial conference.

The only people in the room were the Judge and the lawyers. I was representing myself so I was in the room with the lawyers.

It was during the Pre-trial conferences that went through three session; two one hour sessions on Monday the 29th and another hour and a half session on Tuesday the 30th out of which came the Order that stated the Plaintiff, The Burlington Air Park Inc., no longer wished to proceed.

What does this decision mean to the people of Burlington and how they can react to situations where they feel and believe their environment is being damaged and that their rights as citizens are being both abused and denied will be the subject of a follow up article.