Commercial Litigation

On January 9, 2016 following convictions under the Fisheries Act in 2015, three companies were fined $2.2 million in a B.C. Provincial Court, for offences dating back to October 2010. The fines were imposed under the former Fisheries Act provisions for the “harmful alteration, destruction an…

Valero Energy Inc., the owner of the Lévis, Quebec-based Jean-Gaulin Refinery, has received a $500,000 fine for violating the Fisheries Act. Reportedly, in 2008, the company accidentally released some 200,000 litres of heavy fuel oil into a stream that flows into the Saint-Lawrence River. En…

Last December, the Hudson’s Bay Company was fined for a large release of PCBs into the St. Lawrence River in 2011. The release involved 146 kg of PCBs, exceeding the permitted amount by 146,000 times, though it was estimated that 48 kg were discharged into the St. Lawrence. On December 7, 20…

Due diligence is an extremely important concept in environmental regulation and compliance. When properly done, it provides a defence to regulatory charges or, at least, can mitigate the amount of fines imposed. Environmental due diligence is primarily a proactive activity. It involves takin…

Last August, we reported on recent case law dealing with the difficult question of how to determine limitation periods in environmental claims. In the January 2017 Court of Appeal decision of Crombie Property Holdings Limited v. McColl-Frontenac Inc., the court overturned the trial court’s d…

A year after hearing the case, four out of nine judges of the Supreme Court of Canada have ruled in Ernst v. Alberta Energy Regulator that Ms. Ernst cannot make a claim for an alleged breach of her freedom of speech Charter rights by the Alberta Energy Regulator (“Board”). Further, the judge…

A recent decision reiterates the importance of credible expert evidence in litigation relating to contaminated property. The Plaintiff claimed that well water on her property was contaminated as a result of the application of municipal sewage (biosolids) waste to the neighbouring farmland ow…

On December 20, 2016, the federal government obtained a fine of $975,000 for improper handling of electrical equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) against a Montreal property management firm. The Montreal firm and seven associated companies pled guilty to a combined 52 charge…

On December 8, 2016 an individual was convicted for transporting asbestos waste, storing asbestos, and failing to comply with the conditions of a Ministry order contrary to the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act (“EPA”). The individual operated a business providing asbestos remov…

Natural Resources Minister Carr has appointed three new panel members to the National Energy Board after three of its former members recused themselves from the Energy East TransCanada project hearings. The Acting Chair of the NEB must now assign duties for the three members, which likely wi…