In this case, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that
foreseeability of harm is not an element of the tort of
nuisance.
The finding was made in the context of historical environmental
contamination of a property neighbouring that owned by the
defendant, Fraser Hillary's Limited, which had operated a
dry-cleaning business in Ottawa since 1960. Between 1960 and 1974,
solvents used in the dry-cleaning process were discharged and
subsequently contaminated the soil and groundwater on a
neighbouring property owned by Mr. Huang. According to Fraser, the
solvents had been used in accordance with the best practices at the
time, and the environmental dangers of the solvents were not known
at the time. The contamination was not uncovered until 2003 during
an environmental assessment of Mr. Huang's property.
