Can purchaser of contaminated site sue neighbour?
The case is important because of the widespread (but, I think, mistaken) belief among some real estate solicitors and agents that a buyer can (knowingly or negligently) buy previously contaminated land and then sue the source of the contamination for the cost of cleaning up that pre-exist…
View the post titled Can purchaser of contaminated site sue neighbour?Regulators of fracking negligent? Case update
Protecting administrative tribunals and their members from liability for negligence in regulating fracking held to be constitutionally legitimate
View the post titled Regulators of fracking negligent? Case updateAppeal Court Rejects Pollution Exclusion in Oil Overflow
In O’Byrne et al. v. Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company (Lindsay), 2014 ONCA 543, the Ontario Court of Appeal has forced an insurer to pay for a fuel oil cleanup after a spill, despite a pollution exclusion clause. The case involved an “all risks” insurance policy. A tenant inserted a piece o…
View the post titled Appeal Court Rejects Pollution Exclusion in Oil OverflowQuebec Court Recognizes Precautionary Principle for Belugas
Quebec Superior Court Justice Claudine Roy granted a temporary injunction on September 23, 2014, stopping Energy East Pipeline Ltd. and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. from conducting exploratory work in the St. Lawrence River near Cacouna, QC until October 15, after a critical period for beluga …
View the post titled Quebec Court Recognizes Precautionary Principle for BelugasMillions for offsite gasoline contamination
The Ontario Superior Court has awarded millions to a neighbouring property owner for historic offsite gasoline contamination. The decision in Canadian Tire Real Estate Ltd. v. Huron Concrete Supply Ltd. illustrates, and will perpetuate, the continuing confusion over liability for off site gr…
View the post titled Millions for offsite gasoline contaminationAs minimum fines get higher, is there a work-around?
As minimum fines on multiple charges lead to increasingly unfair results, defence counsel, and occasionally judges, are looking for ways to reconcile the law with what they consider to be just results. Earlier this year, the Ontario Court of Appeal slammed the door shut on two such ideas: cr…
View the post titled As minimum fines get higher, is there a work-around?Environmental consultant’s negligence claim to proceed
Environmental consultant’s negligence claims for failing to clean up contaminated sites continue to multiply. The Ontario Superior Court recently allowed a professional negligence lawsuit to go ahead against an Ontario environmental consultant, XCG, despite a long delay, which, accord…
View the post titled Environmental consultant’s negligence claim to proceedAnti-fracking bylaws: US Lawyer wins green Nobel prize
Helen Slottje, a lawyer in Ithaca, New York, was recently awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work “helping towns across New York defend themselves from oil and gas companies by passing local bans on fracking” (the US equivalent of anti-fracking bylaws). Her legal res…
View the post titled Anti-fracking bylaws: US Lawyer wins green Nobel prizeSupreme Court of Canada gives Chevron permission to appeal Ecuador pollution decision
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted Chevron’s application for leave to appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal decision allowing Ecuadorian plaintiffs to sue here to try to collect their $18 billion Ecuador pollution judgment. According to a US court, that award was based on fraud. Our …
View the post titled Supreme Court of Canada gives Chevron permission to appeal Ecuador pollution decisionFirst “climate refugee” case going to appeal in New Zealand
On 1st May, 2014, the New Zealand Court of Appeal will hear Ioane Teitiota’s claim to become the world’s first climate refugee. Mr. Teitota is from a remote atoll in the Pacific nation of Kiribati, one of the lowest-lying nations on Earth. He is trying to convince New Zealand jud…
View the post titled First “climate refugee” case going to appeal in New ZealandReceive Blog Posts
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