Just how much St. John's paid lawyers in a failed bid to keep a payout secret will stay under wraps
Acting Newfoundland and Labrador Information and Privacy Commissioner Jacqueline Lake Kavanagh says the City of St. John's won't have to divulge how much it spent on legal fees linked to 2021 workplace harassment allegations. (John Gushue/CBC)
Despite court applications by CBC News, the dollar amount the City of St. John's paid lawyers in a failed bid to keep a payout secret will stay under wraps, says Newfoundland and Labrador's transparency watchdog.
In March, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ordered the city to release the amounts it paid to city employees linked to 2021 workplace harassment allegations that saw the now-defunct Growlers hockey team ejected from the Mary Brown's Centre for several weeks.
CBC News filed an access-to-information request for records of legal fees for the city's efforts to fight the release of that information.
In response, a 10-page document was released, completely censored save for the letterhead of the law firms Curtis Dawe and McInnes Cooper.
"I have severed information that is unable to be disclosed and have provided you with as much information as possible," wrote access and privacy analyst Kanessa Windsor.
In response, CBC News filed a complaint with the Newfoundland and Labrador information and privacy commissioner but an informal resolution wasn't successful. CBC News filed an appeal, citing cases involving invoices for legal services to refute claims of the presumption of solicitor-client privilege.
"The redactions in this case qualify to have the public interest override applied to them," CBC News argued in its filing.
Settlement amount revealed
The case at the centre of the legal fees involves workplace harassment allegations at the Mary Brown's Centre, then called Mile One Centre, dating back to October 2021, when the Growlers hockey team was booted from the city-owned arena.
At the time, Mayor Danny Breen said there would be an investigation, citing allegations against Deacon Sports and Entertainment, owner of the Growlers, of "disrespectful workplace conduct" by team ownership staff.
The dispute between the city and the Growlers was ultimately resolved, and the team returned to the Mary Brown's Centre later that fall.
SaltWire Network, which publishes the St. John's Telegram, asked the city for the financial statements of the St. John's Sports and Entertainment, the city-run corporation that operates the Mary Brown's Centre.
However, the 2021 report contained redactions, and SaltWire appealed that decision to Newfoundland and Labrador's information and privacy commissioner, which sided with SaltWire.
The city then went to the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court to stop the release of that financial information.
Two years after the payout was made, it was ultimately revealed that it was a $1.29-million resolution agreement, with $600,000 going to Deacon Sports and Entertainment because of the eviction.
Of the remaining amount, $546,272 was for a new LED ring signage the city was cost-sharing with Deacon Sports, and $141,000 was related to naming rights for the facility under the lease agreement.
Privacy commissioner sides with city
But just how much the city spent to keep the settlement amount from being made public will stay a secret.
Acting commissioner Jacqueline Lake Kavanagh decided the city doesn't have to disclose how much was spent on legal fees.
"While there is plainly an inherent public interest involving records of the expenditure of public funds, when weighed against the purpose of the exception, the threshold to override solicitor-client privilege has not been met," Lake Kavanagh wrote in her report, dated July 8.
The city successfully argued that "disclosure of the information in the invoices would allow the applicant or an assiduous inquirer to obtain or deduce privileged communications."
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