Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

Here’s a familiar scenario:  A service provider that has been invoicing its client for several years at some point discovers that it has been calculating its services incorrectly and has missed billing for an item. The mistake goes back a number of years. The service provider then sends a “corrective invoice” containing the previously missed charges to the client ...

A relatively recent decision from the BC Court of Appeal will shield defendants from potential exposure to special costs orders, even if they end up losing the litigation.  The decision creates an uneven playing field, where in certain types of litigation, successful defendants will recover special costs but successful plaintiffs will not.  Plaintiffs’ counsel will ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal recently weighed in, for the first time, on the interpretation and application of the strata wind-up provisions in Part 16 of the Strata Property Act, (the “Act”).  This is the first appellate decision to consider this aspect of the Act.  It is an important decision because the court confirmed the validity of the practice and procedures for strata ...

The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Hunt v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 25556, 2018 BCCA 159, reaffirming the longstanding maxim that “justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.” 

The Hunt decision arises out of arbitration over concerns about the installation of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit between ...

On April 24, 2018, the BC government introduced Bill 21 to amend the Class Proceeding Act (“CPA”). The amendments will change BC from an “opt in” jurisdiction for non-residents to an “opt out” jurisdiction. There were a number of consequential amendments to the CPA that address the issues that will now arise from certification of “multi-jurisdictional” ...

The recent Olympic coverage of ski-cross and slope style events in PyeongChang, combined with a cold snap and snow across B.C. (even in Vancouver), will likely inspire skiers and snowboarders to try some extreme moves of their own on the slopes. However, before launching yourself off a cliff to mimic an Olympian, it might be worth considering the legal context of such extreme ...

Over the years, the courts have sought to protect the public interest in ascertaining the truth in civil litigation proceedings while at the same time affording protection to the privacy interests of the parties involved. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia recently addressed this issue in Duncan v. Lessing, 2018 BCCA 9, when affirming that the statutory tort of ...

Over the years, the courts have developed various remedies to allow for the recovery of money in circumstances where fairness simply demands it. These remedies arise in situations where there is no legal or contractual relationship between the parties that might otherwise ground such a claim.  Situations like this arise where one person pays another sums of money under the ...

Section 8 of the Interest Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-15, prohibits any "fine, penalty or rate of interest . . . that has the effect of increasing the charge on the arrears beyond the rate of interest payable on principal money not in arrears." Relying on this provision, borrowers often challenge fees and charges that borrowers levy when seeking to enforce a secured debt that has gone ...