Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

In a previous blog post, Multimillion Dollar Claims of Builders’ Lien Cancelled for a Buck, and One of These Subcontractor Liens is Not Like the Others, we discussed a B.C. Supreme Court decision that altered an owner’s right to discharge a subcontractor’s claim of lien under B.C.’s Builders Lien Act (the “Act”)^[1] because the owner had agreed to pay ...

Builders’ lien claimants and owners alike should be aware of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Pinnacle Living (Capstan Village) Lands Inc. v. Tarrier Group Inc.,^[1] which considers two noteworthy issues in relation to cancelling or removing claims of liens from project lands under British Columbia’s Builders Lien Act (the ...

BC Court of Appeal Settles the Law on Lien Rights for Construction Projects that Span Multiple Parcels of Land

The B.C. Court of Appeal (the “BCCA”) recently issued reasons for judgment in the highly anticipated case of JVD Installations Inc. v Skookum Creek Power Partnership (“Skookum”). The court, for the first time, declared that a “single integrated ...

Since we wrote our blog post of March 30, 2020, entitled “Suspension of Mandatory Limitation Periods & Other Mandatory Time Periods for Commencement of Proceedings in British Columbia,” there has been an important change to the law in B.C.

Ministerial Order No. M086 (the “Prior Order”), discussed in that blog post, was repealed and replaced by Ministerial Order ...

In a relatively recent decision, Pita Royale Inc. (Aroma taste of the Middle East) v Buckingham Properties Inc., 2019 ONCA 439, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed yet again that once a commercial landlord makes an ‘election’ to terminate a lease due to a specific default of a tenant, the landlord is not permitted to distrain or seize the tenant’s goods on the premises ...

Suppose a contractor or subcontractor is involved in a major renovation or expansion project such as work on a hospital, academic institution, or a large industrial or retail facility.  Due to unfortunate circumstances while construction is underway and ongoing, through a fire, a water leak or other catastrophic event, damage to the newly renovated property occurs as well ...

Can a public owner contract out of any liability for a failure to follow its own directives, policies and, indeed, its own terms and conditions of a procurement process, including a duty of fairness? Although that issue was largely resolved in the Supreme Court of Canada case of Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4, a ...

In a recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision, the court was asked to revisit the age old question of whether vendors of real property in British Columbia can still rely on the doctrine of caveat emptor or 'buyer beware' to avoid certain types of claims made by disgruntled purchasers.  In short, the court ultimately recognized the continuing application of the doctrine with only ...

In a recent decision from the BC Court of Appeal, the court once again had to struggle with the often difficult issue of what is a “chattel” and what becomes a “fixture” during the course of a commercial tenancy.  In the result, the court confirmed that the test of a chattel v. fixture is not a subjective one, but rather is objective.  Accordingly, although parties to a ...

On September 18, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its reasons in Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd. v. Structal Heavy Steel, 2015 SCC 43.  Although the judgment concerned the interpretation of the Manitoba Builders’ Lien Act, it has implications for owners, contractors and others in the construction industry across Canada, including remedies available to ...