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ARTICLE · 15 MARCH 2017

Dueling Environmental Experts: The Court Accepts The More Fact-Based, Reliable And Plausible Explanation

Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP
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When a party finds itself in an environmental dispute, what evidence must it submit to support its case? And will that evidence succeed in Court?

CanadaEnergy and Natural Resources
Marc McAree
Marc McAree
Anand Srivastava
Anand Srivastava
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When a party finds itself in an environmental dispute, what evidence must it submit to support its case? And will that evidence succeed in Court? For example, consider a dispute between neighbours where one neighbour alleges that the other is causing the migration of contamination across their shared property line. Each neighbour hires an expert in contaminant hydrogeology to support his or her theory of the case. How will a Court decide which of the two competing experts' evidence to base its decision on?

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently considered this question in Weenen v Biadi.1

Mr. Weenen and Mr. Biadi were neighbours in a rural area. Water covered a significant portion of Mr. Weenen's property. The flooded portions of the property were unusable.2

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