Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

A limitation period is a specific period of time within which a person with a legal claim must commence a court proceeding to assert that claim. In British Columbia, the Limitation Act, SBC 2012, c 13 (the “Limitation Act”) provides for a basic limitation period of two years from the date a claim is discovered. Failure to start a claim within the applicable limitation ...

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 ...

In late September 2021, a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court in chambers refused the application of Teal Cedar Products Ltd. (“Teal”) to extend the interlocutory injunction to protect its ongoing logging operations in the Fairy Creek watershed on Vancouver Island from unlawful interference by protesters.^[1] Media coverage about the protests over old ...

Earlier this year, we wrote about how questions about the applicable standard of review of arbitral awards had been re-opened by two decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”), Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov^[1] (“Vavilov”) and Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District^[2] (“Wastech”).

On ...

In Kent v. Panorama Mountain Village Inc., 2021 BCCA 332, the BC Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision and found that a restrictive covenant requiring owners of a strata unit to rent to the public only through a centralized rental management system was in fact enforceable.

The petitioners own a strata unit in a complex at the Panorama Resort. A restrictive covenant ...

More often than not, sequels can’t live up to the original.  Case in point: Jaws 2.  But this blog post sequel aims to be better, like The Dark Knight.

In Part I of this blog post, we looked at the basic facts of Weaver v. Ball. The case involved two well-known scholars, Dr. Andrew Weaver and Dr. Timothy Ball, who have diametrically opposing viewpoints regarding climate change. In ...

After the initial phase of suspension of non-urgent hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, courts in British Columbia have started to move towards alternative ways to resume the operation of the justice system. With the increasing prevalence of remote communication options, courts have developed procedures to conduct hearings remotely using video or ...

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

Most of us were taught this maxim at an early age. But while the fundamental principle behind this saying holds true today, the reality is a little more complicated, especially with current technology. Now, with a single cellphone, practically anyone can publish their opinions online for the entire world to see. This has led to the ...

Earlier this month, the B.C. Court of Appeal rendered its decision in West Van Holdings Ltd. v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company, 2019 BCCA 110 – a case which considered whether insurers can rely on certain exclusion clauses to deny or preclude coverage for environmental contamination and pollution claims.

The two insured entities, West Van Holdings Ltd. and West Van ...

Introduction

In Vancouver Community College v Vancouver Career College (Burnaby) 2017 BCCA 41, the British Columbia Court of Appeal found that Vancouver Community College (“VCC”) had established the tort of passing off against Vancouver Career College (“Career College”) for using “VCC” and “VCCollege” as part of Career College’s internet ...