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ARTICLE · 08 JANUARY 2014

Disclose That Contamination? Or Not?

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Owners of contaminated sites are sometimes reluctant to disclose what they know, hoping to get rid of the liability with the property.

CanadaEnvironment
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Owners of contaminated sites are sometimes reluctant to disclose what they know, hoping to get rid of the liability with the property. Anyone who is so tempted will want to follow what happens in 1623242 Ontario Inc. v. Great Lakes Copper Inc., 2013 ONSC 7935 and 2013 ONSC 2548.

In this case, Wolverine Tube 1 sold a property in Fergus, Ontario, to 1623242 Ontario Inc. ("162"), without disclosing that its predecessor, Wolverine Ratcliffs Inc. ("Wolverine"), had contaminated the property with PCB's. Wolverine Tube 1 took a substantial vendor-take-back mortgage, which it assigned to a related company, 3072453 Nova Scotia Company ("307").

The Ministry of the Environment discovered the contamination and ordered both present and past owners to remove the contaminants.

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