McLennan Ross successfully represented Shell Canada Limited
in a summary dismissal application seeking to have a number of
related lawsuits against Shell dismissed. Following the hearing of
Shell's application, Master J. Farrington of the Alberta Court
of Queen's Bench dismissed the lawsuits against Shell at a
relatively early stage of the litigation, well before trial.
The litigation involves eight separate lawsuits launched by a
number of residential property owners, and one commercial property
owner, in the Bowness neighbourhood of Calgary. All of the actions
stem, at least in part, from a gasoline spill from a nearby retail
gas station operated by Gas Plus Inc. and owned by the a related
corporation, Handel Transport (Northern) Ltd. (collectively,
"Gas Plus"). The spill occurred in April 2010 while Gas
Plus controlled the site. The exact size of the spill is unknown,
but it appears to have consisted of between 7,000 and 9,000 litres
of gasoline.
