Traffic Nuisance: Certification for Class Action Dismissed by Superior Court of Quebec
On June 25, 2015, the Superior Court of Quebec, in a 92 page judgment, dismissed a motion to certify a class action brought against the City of Brossard and the City of Longueuil in Quebec based on allegations of nuisance...
Water Power: A new spin on an old concept expanding hydro-electricity in Ontario
Water Canada, January/February 2016, p. 31
Climate Change Progress in 2015, COP21 and What’s Next?
2015 was a ground-breaking year for climate change regulation in Ontario. The province made several announcements regarding plans and strategies for how to best lower greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet targets in the coming years. Recap: 1. Ontario...
Does Ontario Court of Appeal Midwest Decision Signal Big Changes to Environmental Civil Litigation in Ontario?
A potentially very significant decision was released by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Friday November 27, 2015 in Midwest Properties Ltd. v. Thordarson, 2015 ONCA 819. The Midwest decision is a complete reversal of every aspect of the 2013...
Precision Plating Part II: British Columbia Court of Appeal restores effect of Absolute Pollution Exclusion
In 2014, the British Columbia Supreme Court, in Precision Plating Ltd. v. Axa Pacific Insurance Company, 2014 BCSC 602, held that a purportedly “absolute” pollution exclusion was ambiguous in the context of a fire loss. This decision resulted in significant...
Environmental Issues in Property Development
Miller Thomson seminar
Expert Testimony in Environmental Claims: Participant vs Litigation Experts
Lexology, May 2015; Ontario Bar Association Environmental Publications, April 2015
Testimony in Environmental Claims
Environmental Science & Engineering Magazine, July/August 2015
Expert Testimony in Environmental Claims: Participant vs Litigation Experts
The Ontario Court of Appeal has recently discussed the drafting of expert reports and the nature of expert testimony (respectively in Moore v Getahun, 2015 ONCA 55 (CanLII) and Westerhof v Gee, 2015 ONCA 206 (CanLII)). Neither of these cases...
Ontario’s GHG Emissions Cap and Trade System: Program Announced with Details to Follow
In December 2009, the Ontario legislature passed the Environmental Protection Amendment Act (Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading), 2009, providing the legislative framework needed for a cap and trade system, and regulations were prepared to fill out these requirements. The Province had...
