Kivalina loses its climate change nuisance case again
The City and Village of Kivalina, population about 400, sits on the tip of a six-mile barrier reef on the northwest coast of Alaska. The residents depend on the sea ice that forms along the coast to shield them from violent storms. Sea ice has consistently declined in recent years – i…
View the post titled Kivalina loses its climate change nuisance case againInco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class action
Justice J. R. Henderson of the Ontario Superior Court has awarded Inco $1,766,000 in legal costs arising from the Smith v. Inco nickel contamination class action in Port Colborne, Ontario. This is less than a quarter of Inco’s actual legal costs, which exceeded $5,340,000 after certi…
View the post titled Inco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class actionDo the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?
Cleaning up your neighbour’s mess: Recovery of spill clean-up costs by the innocent party. It is clear that any civilized system of law is bound to provide remedies for cases of what has been called unjust enrichment or unjust benefit, that is to prevent a man from retaining the money of or …
View the post titled Do the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?Contaminated site lawsuit: How not to win
Owners of a contaminated site are often too optimistic about their “rights” to compensation. Sometimes, chasing compensation for contamination just throws good money after bad. For example, Terrim Properties Ltd. wanted to build a gaming centre in Castlegar, B.C. Their loan fell…
View the post titled Contaminated site lawsuit: How not to winManaging fill: when is surplus soil “waste”, and where can it go?
Soil movement is big business in Ontario, involving perhaps 170 million tonnes/ year, and adding about 15% to infrastructure costs. Last year’s changes to the contaminated sites regulation Reg. 153/04 have made soil movement more difficult and expensive than ever, and further cost increases …
View the post titled Managing fill: when is surplus soil “waste”, and where can it go?Environmental Review Tribunal appeal notices must be complete
The Environmental Review Tribunal has dismissed an anti-wind appeal, because the neighbours opposed to the project did not file a proper notice of appeal: Ball v. Director. Several appeals were also dismissed in Monture v. Ontario, Ministry of the Environment, because the notices of appeal w…
View the post titled Environmental Review Tribunal appeal notices must be completeLiability insurer need not pay for voluntary delineation and cleanup
According to Ontario’s Court of Appeal, General Electric Canada (GE) can’t make its liability insurer pay for the delineation and cleanup of a former GE property contaminated with trichloroethylene (“TCE”), because it voluntarily complied with a Ministry of the Environment …
View the post titled Liability insurer need not pay for voluntary delineation and cleanupCertificate of analysis ok as evidence despite minor error and delay?
A court accepted a Maxxam certificate of analysis into evidence in an environmental prosecution, despite a minor error in an internal chain of custody, and a two month delay in issuing the certificate. The decision is useful for anyone who takes samples, analyses them or uses the result in court.
View the post titled Certificate of analysis ok as evidence despite minor error and delay?Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagree
Bad science should be thrown out of court. When alleged scientific data fails to meet relevant, objective quality standards specifically developed for that kind of data, no one knows whether the claimed result is either reliable or correct. It is fundamentally unfair to punish anyone base…
View the post titled Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagreeSoil remediation: smell test stands up in court
The latest decision in the Horvath saga has upheld the “smell test” in delineating home furnace oil contamination for remediation.
View the post titled Soil remediation: smell test stands up in courtReceive Blog Posts
By subscribing to our blog, you will receive an email when a new post is added. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending an email to us at [email protected] with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line.