In May of 2016, the Superior Court of Justice delivered reasons
in
Valco Instruments Canada v. Imperial Oil, dismissing in part a
defendant's summary judgment motion related to a contaminated
land claim. The court concluded that the limitation period for a
negligence claim had expired by the time the claim was brought;
however, the court also concluded it could not dismiss the nuisance
claim because an original cause of action arises each day that a
nuisance remains unabated.
Given the expert evidence before it, the court ordered that the
matter go to trial on the question of whether, and to what extent,
there had been a continuing and ongoing migration of contaminating
petroleum hydrocarbons from the defendants' property onto the
plaintiff's property as of a particular date, and the extent of
damages, if any, suffered by the plaintiff as a result. [As an
aside, it's important to remember that merely having
contaminants flow is not sufficient to found a claim in
