Years ago, there was a dry cleaner in Cook Street Village in Victoria, on the corner of Cook and McKenzie. It may (or may not) have had a big neon sign like the picture above. Today, the dry cleaner is gone, but the plume of contamination that it left behind is still being cleaned up.
For proceedings in the British Columbia Supreme Court, examinations for discovery typically happen somewhere in B.C. That’s not a requirement though – if the parties agree, an examination can be conducted just about anywhere in the world. But what happens when the person who has to be examined doesn’t live in B.C. and doesn’t necessarily want to travel to B.C. to be examined?
My friend and law school colleague Professor Katie Sykes is teaching a fantastic new course at Thompson Rivers University called “L21C – The Law Firm for the 21st Century”. Part of the course is a blog where Professor Sykes, her students, and a variety of others discuss how the legal profession is changing. I contributed a “guest post” this morning – you can read it by clicking here.
You may recall that last November, the BC Supreme Court ruled in favour of my client, New Nadina Explorations Limited, in a case that involved the interpretation of the phrase “land under cultivation.” Following that decision, the landowner appealed, and this week the BC Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
Earlier this week, Mr. Justice McEwan of the British Columbia Supreme Court released his decision in the case of Community Association of New Yaletown v. Vancouver (City), a case involving a rezoning application, a public hearing, and a land swap deal between the City of Vancouver and Brenhill Developments.
The result of the case is striking: two bylaws quashed, a development permit revoked, and new public hearings ordered. On the ground, there is an active construction site that no longer has a valid development permit, and as for the agreement between Brenhill and the City? That’s a separate (and probably even more complicated) topic for another day.
Every year, BC Assessment prepares an “Assessment Roll” as of December 31, and mails out assessment notices early in the calendar year. If you own property in BC, chances are you’ve already received your Property Assessment Notice for 2015. Chances are also pretty good that your property’s assessed is higher this year than it was last year.
In June, I found myself in Court in Kamloops, arguing in response to a Judicial Review Petition involving a 2013 order of the Surface Rights Board. Last week, the B.C. Supreme Court decided in favour of my client, New Nadina Explorations Limited.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Jeff Frame and I gave a talk at the BC Expropriation Association’s annual conference, on the (hot?) topic of positive covenants. The paper discusses the (well established) legal principles that apply to restrictive covenants, then considers whether positive obligations can be “expropriated” from a landowner by an expropriating authority.
You can download the paper by clicking here.
Every year, the B.C. Expropriation Association organizes an informative, 2-day seminar, aimed at professionals who work in the areas of expropriation, land development, water management, and surface rights. This year, the seminar will be held at the Terminal City Club in Vancouver on October 24 and 25.
