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Extending Discretion: Balancing the Limitations Act and Environmental Remediation Claims

The ability to extend a limitation period for an environmental claim is subject to considerable judicial discretion, the Court of Appeal of Alberta recently held in Paramount Resources Ltd v Grey Owl Engineering Ltd, 2024...more

Court Rules That Unquantifiable Climate Impacts Are Not Sufficient to Overturn Project Approval

In a recent decision, the Federal Court has rejected an attempt by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to set aside ministerial approval of a significant offshore oil and gas project. The NGOs argued that the Minister...more

Accounting for Oil and Gas Revenues Without an Operating Agreement

In IFP Technologies (Canada) Inc v EnCana Midstream and Marketing, 2022 ABKB 807, the Court considered for the first time how to perform an accounting of profits from an oil and gas working interest between tenants in common...more

Supreme Court of Canada Clarifies Law In de facto Expropriation Cases

Government Advantage and Reasonable Land Use - A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently clarified that any public “advantage” that government obtains through land regulations that deprives a property owner...more

Canadian Municipalities Increasingly Support Climate Change Litigation Against Oil and Gas Companies

Vancouver City Council recently passed a motion to fund a proposed class action against various oil and gas companies to recover costs associated with climate change....more

Alberta Court Declines to Extend Limitation Period for Contamination Claim

Section 218 of Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, RSA 2000, c E-12 (EPEA) is not available to extend the limitation period for a party liable for remediation costs to make claims against other alleged...more

Win for American Energy Companies Facing Climate Change Litigation

In a 7-1 ruling in BP PLC et al v Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (19-1189), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals did not fully analyze whether a climate change tort...more

The Alberta Court of Appeal Provides Guidance on the Test for Certification in Overturning Goodyear

On May 17, 2021, the Alberta Court of Appeal released its decision in Spring v Goodyear Canada Inc., 2021 ABCA 182. This case is the latest Alberta consideration of the test for certification of a class action. At issue was...more

The Latest on Pre-Certification Stays in Multijurisdictional Class Actions

Britton v Ford Motor Company of Canada - A recent decision of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench addresses the challenges of considering a pre-certification application to stay a class action when the decision may impact...more

2/9/2021  /  Canada , Class Action , Ford Motor

Are Climate Change Claims Based on Charter Rights Justiciable? Canadian Courts Render Conflicting Decisions

U.S. courts have often relied on the political question doctrine to dismiss climate change actions. The Canadian equivalent of the political question doctrine, justiciability, has recently been considered by Canadian Court in...more

An Update on How the Suspension of Court Operations is Affecting Civil Litigation

This is an update to a previous blog from March 23, 2020. Courts across Canada are limiting hearings due to the rapidly evolving novel COVID-19 outbreak. Courts in each jurisdiction are responding differently and...more

COVID-19: How the Suspension of Court Operations is Affecting Civil Litigation

Courts across Canada are limiting hearings due to the rapidly evolving novel COVID-19 outbreak. Courts in each jurisdiction are responding differently and implementing measures that are affecting existing and contemplated...more

Court Finds Indigenous Law Not a Defence to an Injunction to Restrain Protests

On December 31, 2019, the British Columbia Supreme Court confirmed that interlocutory injunctions, which can include police enforcement clauses, are an available remedy to restrain protesters from blockading pipeline projects...more

Federal Court of Appeal Dismisses Challenge to GIC Approval of Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project

Canada's duty to consult with Indigenous peoples does not guarantee outcomes, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA or Court) confirmed in Coldwater First Nation v Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FCA 34 [Coldwater]....more

ExxonMobil Wins Climate Change Securities Battle Against New York but the War Continues

More than four years of contentious litigation concluded this month when the Supreme Court of the State of New York released its judgment in the People of the State of New York v Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Court found...more

New Charter Litigation Seeks Stable Climate System

Fifteen youth from across the country, through their parents and litigation guardians, have joined forces in a lawsuit against the federal government over climate change, filed Friday in Federal Court in Vancouver. The case,...more

Quebec's Superior Court Leaves the Door Open to Canadian Climate Change Litigation

On July 11, 2019, Quebec's Superior Court rejected a class action lawsuit seeking federal action relating to climate change. The Court found that the questions raised by the plaintiff, Environnement Jeunesse, were justiciable...more

Second Appeal Court Rules Federal Carbon Tax Constitutional but the Debate Continues

With its decision on June 28, 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal became the second appellate court to conclude that Canada's federal carbon tax regime complies with the Constitution. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released a...more

Operators May Reduce Annual Compensation Under Surface Lease Agreements

On March 19, 2019, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench (ABQB) ruled in Karve Energy Inc. v Drylander Ranch Ltd., 2019 ABQB 298 that the Surface Rights Board (Board) does not have the authority to interfere with the amount of...more

B.C.’s Highest Court Rules Province’s Attempt to Regulate Bitumen Unconstitutional

On May 24, 2019, a five-member panel of the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) unanimously determined that British Columbia's proposed amendments to the Environmental Management Act, SBC 2003, c 53 (the EMA) are...more

Federal Carbon Tax Ruled Constitutional... For Now

On May 3, 2019, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal (SKCA) released its lengthy decision in Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, 2019 SKCA 40. This much-anticipated decision represents the first judicial...more

When Is It Too Late to Sue for Environmental Contamination? The ABCA Rules

On February 6, 2019, the Alberta Court of Appeal (ABCA) released its first ever decision on section 218 of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA), which may extend limitation periods applicable to...more

Climate Change Litigation Comes to Canada

On November 27, 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed in Québec seeking relief against the federal government on the basis of its alleged inaction on climate change. The action, commenced by a group called ENvironnement...more

Washington Court Affirms Assertion of Specific Jurisdiction over Canadian Mining Company

On September 14th, 2018, the United States (U.S.) Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the Eastern District of Washington (the "Court"), upheld the District Court decision to hold Canadian mining company, Teck Cominco...more

Oil Producers Win Another Round in U.S. Climate Change Litigation

On July 19, 2018, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York followed an emerging trend in federal jurisprudence by dismissing a claim against several oil and gas producers in City of New York v....more

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