We recently acted for the owner/operator of a
scrap yard, who decided to shut down its business after more than
50 years in operation and sell their property to a developer. As
would be expected, the purchase agreement required the vendor to
remove the scrap metal stored on the site prior to closing. On the
day before closing, while the crane operator was picking up the
remaining scrap at the far corner of the property and dumping it in
a truck to be hauled away, he came upon what appeared to be a large
cache of shells and other munitions. He immediately (and wisely)
stopped the crane and notified the owner.
Our client called CFB Borden to report the
finding, who immediately sent an inspector down to investigate. Our
client's second call was to us: "Do you have any
experience with this and how is it going to affect the
closing?" The answer to the first question, of course, was
"no, no one does." Interestingly, as we delved into the
issue, we discovered that the
