CORNWALL – The city has reached an out-of-court settlement with whistleblower Diane Shay, which will see the city not pursue legal costs against the her.
Shay, a former long term care home worker and most recently the corporation’s health and safety officer, has been in a up-and-down legal battle for eight years over a case that started with retaliation related to an elder abuse case at Glen-Stor-Dun Lodge.
City councillors met behind closed doors Tuesday night to finalize the plan.
In an interview with Cornwall Newswatch shortly after the council meeting, CAO Maureen Adams told CNW the city will release a statement later today (Thursday) explaining the corporation will sign a full and final release in the lawsuit and will not pursue legal costs.
While there isn’t an exact figure on what those legal costs would be, Adams said there was a request for costs document filed with the court which would have seen the city awarded $15,000 if its case was successful. Any decision would have been up to the judge.
Diane Shay’s lawsuit suffered a setback in June when Cornwall judge Rick Leroy dismissed a request to have evidence from an earlier settlement in 2011 included in the current case.
In an email to reporters Friday, Diane Shay said she was dropping her case against the city as going to trial would cost another $60,000.
“I made the difficult decision to file for a discontinuous. I simple (sic) could not afford to go any further. Immediately after that the City offered a settlement which I accepted,” she wrote.
Shay added that she will leave the case in the court of public opinion.