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ARTICLE · 12 OCTOBER 2020

Township's Prescriptive Easement Upheld By Court Of Appeal

Gardiner Roberts LLP
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In Paleshi Motors Limited v. Woolwich (Township), 2020 ONCA 625 (CanLII), the Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed that a Township had established a prescriptive easement over private lands...

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
James R.G. Cook
James R.G. Cook
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In Paleshi Motors Limited v. Woolwich (Township), 2020 ONCA 625 (CanLII), the Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed that a Township had established a prescriptive easement over private lands for the purposes of maintaining a watermain.

The lands in issue were being used as an auto salvage yard. The Township had installed a watermain on the lands in 1979, and had entered onto the lands over the years for the purposes of operating, maintaining, repairing and replacing the watermain without seeking permission from the former owners. There was no evidence of a formal agreement having been granted to the Township by former land owners to do so.

In 2015, the shares of the company which owned the salvage yard were acquired by a new owner, who asked that the watermain be removed, which the Township refused. Litigation ensued, with the new owner seeking to have the watermain removed and the Township seeking an order that it had established a prescriptive easement.

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