Taking The Cleaner To The Cleaners: Statutory Liability For Pollutant Spills Post-Midwest

Co-authored by Stacey MacTaggart (Articled Student)

In a decision released in March 2017, Huang v Fraser Hillary's Limited ("Huang"), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice used section 99(2) of the Ontario Environmental Protection Act ("EPA") to anchor liability and award the plaintiff $1,632,500 in damages for remediation, in addition to $201,726 for expert costs incurred during litigation. The plaintiff's losses stemmed from the historical and continuing migration of dry cleaning chemicals from the defendant corporation's nearby dry cleaning operation to the plaintiff's lands. The president and sole director of the defendant corporation was also sued, both in relation to the dry cleaning operation and in his personal capacity as the owner of an intervening property. The case is a clear indication that section 99(2) provides a powerful, efficacious remedy for plaintiffs seeking compensation for historical spills in situations where it has traditionally been