“In Fernicola v. Fernicola, 2022 ONSC 1041, Woodley J. confirmed that three lines of inquiry must be considered when determining whether the parties have reached a settlement. She stated at para. 55 as follows:
To determine whether the parties have reached a settlement, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Halpern v. Halpern, 2014 ONSC 4246 (Ont. S.C.J.) (CanLII), citing Lundrigan v. Andrews, 2009 ONCA 160 (Ont. C.A.) (CanLII) and Ward v. Ward, 2011 ONCA 178 (Ont. C.A.) (CanLII), has set out three distinct lines of inquiry to consider:
(1) was there a “meeting of the minds” or consensus ad idem, that was manifest to the reasonable observers?
(2) was there a consensus on all of the essential terms of the agreement? and
(3) did the parties make the agreement conditional upon any other term, or subject to execution or a formal contract?
Woodley J. also observed, at para. 56, that “[t]he test is objective and the parties will be found to have reached a meeting of the minds where it is clear to the objective reasonable bystander in light of all the material facts that the parties intended to contract and the essential terms of that contract can be determined with a reasonable degree of certainty. (See Cook v. Joyce, 2017 ONCA 49 (Ont. C.A.) (CanLII)).””