Former Avalanche winger Steve Moore, whose lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks’ ownership is pending in Ontario nearly eight years after Bertuzzi’s infamous attack in a game in Vancouver, has won a separate court victory.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday, Ontario Superior Court Master Ronald Dash ordered the release of agreements tied to the recent settling of separate suits tied to the case. Those suits were Bertuzzi against former Canucks coach Marc Crawford; and the Canucks’ ownership (Orca Bay Hockey Ltd.) against Bertuzzi.

Those details are to be provided to Moore’s attorney, Timothy Danson, by Feb. 23.

Bertuzzi’s “third-party” suit effectively added Crawford as a defendant, while Orca Bay’s suit against Bertuzzi was a claim that the player had acted on his own in attacking Moore on March 8, 2004.

Last month, Danson argued the agreements leading to the end of those other two suits should be released to serve the public interest.

“This agreement … is the hockey code in action,” Danson said in court. “It’s making sure that those on that side are making a united front against Mr. Moore.’

Dash ruled that the signed agreement setting forth the terms of the settlement of the other suits amounts to a “proportional sharing agreement” provisionally dividing up liability, if Moore wins his suit or there is a settlement. In his ruling, Dash wrote: “The operative part of the agreement provides for a specified percentage apportionment and payment by Bertuzzi, by Orca Bay and by Crawford of any monetary reward regardless of any apportionment of liability made in the action.”

In the written decision, Dash called it “a secret agreement among some but not all parties that ends adversity among the settling parties.”

Danson Thursday declined comment on the ruling.

After years of legal wrangling, Moore’s $38 million lawsuit is scheduled to begin on Sept. 22.

Moore, then 25, suffered three broken neck vertebra and a concussion, and the Harvard graduate never played another game in the NHL. Bertuzzi was suspended for the remainder of the 2003-04 season and the Canucks’ seven-game playoff series, missing a total of 20 games. The NHL didn’t play the next season because of a lockout, and he was reinstated before the 2005-06 season after the labor settlement. Now 37, he is in the third season of his second stint with the Detroit Red Wings.

Extra: Read a copy of the Canadian legal ruling on Steve Moore’s case (.pdf).