“Bombardier’s counsel Martin Sheehan of Montreal’s Fasken Martineau said the judgment ‘draws a reasonable compromise’ between freedom of contract and the public policy that aims to encourage settlement. He suggested the judgment will encourage parties to pay more attention to the mediation contracts they sign and to consider what should happen vis-a-vis confidentiality if a settlement occurs. If they want to ensure that their without-prejudice discussions and disclosures during private mediation do not end up in court they could, for example, specifically state in their mediation contract that ‘it will not be allowed for parties to attempt to prove [in court] a verbal agreement. There will only be an agreement here once both parties agree in writing that there is an agreement,’ he said.”