We reported in our post: Ontario Court of Appeal Extends D&O Personal Liability for Corporate Contamination to Civil Actions in January, on the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Midwest Properties Ltd. v. Thordarson

The case was an action by a landowner for contamination caused by its neighbour but the decision was primarily of interest because the Court of Appeal’s groundbreaking jurisprudence on the effect of Section 99(2) of the Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19 (EPA).

That section provides a statutory right of compensation to any person for loss or damage suffered as a direct result of a spill from the owner of the pollutant and the person having control of the pollutant. The Court of Appeal held that section 99(2)

• Does not require proof of an actionable nuisance
• Compensates the full cost of remediation; damages are not limited to the diminution in the value of the plaintiff’s property caused by the contamination
• May operate against a corporate principal, director, or officer of a corporate landowner where that person is shown on the facts to be a “person having control of [the] pollutant”
• Applies even where there is an existing enforcement order for clean-up against the defendant.

The respondents applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, which has today dismissed that application with costs.

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Manning Environmental Law is a Canadian law firm based in Toronto, Ontario. Our practice is focussed on environmental law, energy law and aboriginal law. 

Paul Manning is a certified specialist in environmental law. He has been named as one of Canada’s leading Environmental Lawyers by Who’s Who Legal: Canada and ranked by Lexpert as one of Canada’s Leading Energy Lawyers.

As always, these posts  are provided only as a general guide and are not legal advice. If you do have any issue that requires legal advice please get in touch. Our contact details can be found here