OTTAWA, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that a significant procedural development has occurred in the $290-million class action lawsuit targeting peaceful Freedom Convoy protestors and donors.

At a case conference held on Thursday, January 29, 2026, Justice Calum MacLeod agreed to hear a motion, brought by the defence, seeking a permanent stay of the proceedings because of the plaintiffs’ failure to disclose a settlement agreement to the defendants’ legal team.

The settlement agreement was signed in April 2024 between the plaintiffs and one of the defendants, Chad Eros. At the time, Mr. Eros did not have a lawyer formally on the court record. Under the agreement, once it was signed, Mr. Eros was required to provide all relevant documents in his possession to the plaintiffs’ lawyers within 60 days and take part in a private meeting with them to discuss those documents. Mr. Eros also agreed to forward a settlement amount to the plaintiffs within six months, all in exchange for his release from the action. However, it is alleged that the settlement funds were never paid.

The agreement was not shared with the other defence lawyers until January 28, 2026, nearly nineteen months later.

Defence lawyers are expected to argue that this delay breaks a basic fairness rule: settlement agreements like this must be disclosed to all parties right away. Because that did not happen, they will argue that the entire lawsuit should be put on hold. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs are expected to argue that because the settlement money never changed hands, there was in fact never any settlement agreement at all and therefore nothing to disclose.

Importantly, the court confirmed that this motion will be addressed before any consideration of class certification, which had previously been scheduled as the next major step in the case. A further case conference is scheduled for March 4, 2026.

Constitutional lawyer James Manson, who represents Freedom Convoy defendants including protestors and donors, welcomed the court’s decision.

“Fairness in the justice system depends on full and timely disclosure according to the law,” said Mr. Manson.

“When litigants fail to meet that basic obligation, courts have both the authority and the responsibility to intervene. A permanent stay is an appropriate remedy where non-disclosure seriously undermines the ability of defendants to properly defend themselves,” he added.

The class action lawsuit arose from events in January and February 2022, when thousands of peaceful protestors from across Canada gathered on Parliament Hill to protest federal Covid vaccine mandates. While many Canadians supported the protest, some Ottawa residents objected to its presence, citing alleged nuisances such as horn honking and idling vehicles.

In February 2022, Ottawa residents Zexi Li and Geoffrey Delaney, along with Happy Goat Coffee Company and a local restaurant, launched a $290-million class action against Freedom Convoy organizers, participants, and individuals who donated to the protest.

Lawyers funded by the Justice Centre have consistently challenged the lawsuit as legally defective, arguing that it improperly groups thousands of individuals together without identifying specific conduct, individualized responsibility, or a causal link between particular defendants and alleged harms.