The Canadian Institute's
18th Annual Provincial-Municipal Government Liability
Thursday, February 23 to Friday, February 24, 2012
Marriott Bloor Yorkville, Toronto, Ontario
Day 1: Thursday, Feb 23, 2012
7:45 Registration and Coffee Served
8:20 Opening Remarks from the Chair - David Boghosian
Principal
Associates Professional Corporation
8:30 Road, Highway, and Sidewalk Liability – Getting Up to Speed on Minimum Maintenance Standards and Other Developments - Charles A. Painter
Paterson
MacDougall LLP - Anne E. Spafford
Partner
Lerners LLP
- The latest on road and highway case law, non-repair, signage requirements
- Evaluating the impact of the minimum maintenance standards
- What are the consequences of failing to meet them?
- Does compliance offer protection? Examining the gaps between common law standards and the regulations and what they mean for municipal maintenance practices
- Getting up-to-date on the constitutional challenge to the minimum maintenance standards
- Learning other possible defences to road liability claims and when it is most effective to apply them
- Developments in bridge inspection liability
- Strategies for developing and investigating your non-repair case
- How to conduct your investigations to ensure the best available evidence is obtained
- What are the limitations on a municipality’s duty of care? The Ontario Court of Appeal’s reversal of Morsi v. Fermar Paving Limited and how this decision may impact your future litigation
- Guy v. Toronto and its effect on municipal maintenance
and snow removal requirements
- Will the standard of care for laneways be elevated to that
for sidewalks?
- Balancing resources and priorities while avoiding negligence: Billings v. Mississauga
- Can the reasonableness of a winter snow removal system
be an effective defence?
9:45 Networking Refreshment Break
10:00 Avoiding and Defending Civil Liability for Municipal Bylaw Enforcement - Scott Hamilton
Boghosian + Associates Professional Corporation
- What responsibilities are imposed on municipalities to actively enforce bylaws? Establishing the threshold for a duty of care in light of new case law
- When could a municipality be held liable? Determining
the circumstances in which a duty of care could arise
- Preventing liability by understanding your options for enforcement of bylaws
- What types of sanctions are available and when/how often should they be enforced?
11:00 Reducing the Risk of Liability from Emerging Trends in Park and Recreational Trail Cases - Belinda Bain
Partner
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP - Colleen Sinclair
Barrister & Solicitor
City of Calgary Law Department‚ Litigation Section
- How have the courts apportioned liability in connection with bicycle accidents?
- Understanding the differing standards for bicyclists under the Occupier’s Liability Act
- Why is there such a disparity in case law for the amount
of contributory negligence?
- Factors to take into consideration when planning and designing trails
- Minimizing your exposure in falling tree cases
- Applying the proper liability standards: no strict liability
for falling trees
- Utilizing the causation defence
- Best practices for minimizing exposure
- Crucial developments in respect of recreational trail liability
- What is the duty of a municipality to ensure the safety of recreational trails for different groups of users?
- Practical advice for limiting liability for both existing trails and when planning new trails
- How will planning have to change in light of the Alberta court of Appeal's Christensen v. Calgary (City) decision? Hear directly from the City of Calgary on the developments of the case and the status of the appeal
- Determining which standards to apply when established standards do not exist
- Proper procedures to limit liability in respect of trail signage
- What standards and/or guidelines apply?
- What will be considered to be a sufficient warning sign?
12:00 Networking Luncheon
1:15 Effectively Managing the Risks of Disasters and Emergencies: Procedures for Prevention and Response - Valerie M'Garry
Principal
Valerie M'Garry Law Office
- Ensuring your employees are properly and effectively trained
to meet legislative standards
- Proactive steps to identify and minimize exposure to potential disasters
- Establishing your infrastructure for crisis management
- How can you guard against potential liability?
- Developing an emergency response plan
- How to co-ordinate with supporting agencies to maximize efficiency
- Minimizing liability of emergency response teams
- Can the speed of emergency response result in liability?
- Defending flooding claims
- What safeguards are offered by legislation?
- Proper maintenance of sewers and issues that can arise
- Effective emergency response and management lessons learned from recent forest fire cases
2:00 Networking Refreshment Break
2:15 Successfully Navigating the New and Emerging Risks of Procurement - Paul Emanuelli
General Counsel and Managing Director
The Procurement Office
- Emerging trends in provincial and municipal procurement
- Analyzing the procurement models employed in Canada
and their effectiveness
- Preventing claims for breach of contract
- Strategies for balancing fiduciary duties, public accountability, and business responsibilities
- How to successfully respond to challenges to bids and bid protests
3:15 Cross-Canada Update: Understanding the Serious Impact of Case Law and Regulatory Developments on Government Liability - Charles A. Painter
Paterson
MacDougall LLP - Alan S. Rudakoff
Partner
Macleod Dixon LLP - Hart Schwartz
Counsel
Ministry of the Attorney General (Ontario) Constitutional Law Branch - Monika Turner
Director of Policy
Association of Municipalities of Ontario
- Significant case law and legislative changes affecting government liability
- Litigation loans and the costs ruling in Giuliani v. Regional Municipality of Halton et. al.
- Examining joint and several liability across Canada
- Strategies to help you minimize your exposure to liability
- Understanding the emerging developments in joint and several liability reform
- What initiatives have been taken and what is their status?
- What alternatives to joint and several liability have been proposed?
- Ensuring your regulations will not infringe on federal powers: the impact of recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions on the interjurisdictional immunity doctrine
- How are conflicts between federal and municipal law being resolved?
- What areas are being limited by the courts?
4:45 Concluding Remarks from the Co-Chairs
Day 2: Friday, Feb 24, 2012
8:20 Opening Remarks by Co-Chairs
8:30 Identifying, Managing, and Minimizing the Risk of Environmental Liability - Marc McAree
Partner‚ Certified Environmental Law Specialist
Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP - Dr. Dianne Saxe
Saxe Law Office
Barristers & Solicitors
- Managing government liability for historic contamination
- Use and ownership of government owned land; contamination imposed on government owned land by neighbours
- Disclosure requirements in transactions where there is actual
or potential contamination
- Expropriating contaminated land and deduction of environmental costs
- Understanding the issues of municipal regulation of fills and limiting potential exposure to claims by neighbours to fill operations
- The aftermath of Berendsen v. MTO on negligence and foreseeability of damages, and Smith v. Inco on nuisance
and strict liability
- Reducing the risk of municipal liability exposure under Ontario’s source protection planning regime
- Emerging claims arising from Ontario’s Green Energy Act
- Government exposure to liability in light of climate change and the need for adaptation
10:00 Networking Refreshment Break
10:15 Effective Litigation Strategies for Class Actions against Municipalities and Provinces - Jonathan Lisus
Partner
Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP - Valerie M'Garry
Principal
Valerie M'Garry Law Office
- Examining the latest trends in the ever increasing number
of class actions against provincial and municipal governments
- What level of government is being sued?
- What situations are leading to class actions? Identifying issues that could result in a class action and steps to take
to prevent them from blowing up
- What are the damages being awarded in class actions? Strategies to minimize the costs against you
- Policies for record retention and filing
- Effectively managing the overwhelming amounts of data and records required in class action litigation
11:30 Decreasing Your Potential Exposure to Building Inspection and Building Code Claims - Alison G. Orr
Building Engineer
Orr Brown Consulting Engineers Ltd. - Greg Van Berkel
Partner
Shillingtons LLP
- Understanding municipal obligations for buildings
- Examining what is required for effective building permit
and inspection programs
- Strategies for minimizing liability for building inspections
- What constitutes a negligent inspection?
- Understanding the interaction between new building code provisions and existing constructions
- Defending negligent building inspection claims
- Best practices for record keeping
- Knowing the role of expert witnesses and how to best introduce evidence
- Contributory negligence of common parties to a building inspection claim
- Analyzing requirements for plaintiffs: What is considered
a failure to mitigate?
12:30 Networking Luncheon
1:45 Emerging Issues in Critical Injury Cases: Complying With Reporting Requirements and Understanding Valuation - Sachin Persaud
Boghosian + Associates Professional Corporation
- Critical injury reporting requirements imposed by the
“Blue Mountain” Decision
- Recommended changes to reporting procedures to ensure compliance with reporting obligations of employers
- What injuries/events are captured by the definition
of “critical injury”?
- What is a “workplace”? Ensuring that you are properly protected for all possible areas from which liability might arise
- Best practices for meeting the time requirements imposed
on reporting
- Proper critical injury response: training procedures
and instructions for staff to ensure investigations
are not interfered with
- Understanding how to properly quantify future care
costs to minimize damage awards
2:45 Networking Refreshment Break
3:00 Managing the Increasing Number of Claims Against Law Enforcement - Pino Cianfarani
Partner
Lerners LLP - Kevin McGivney
Partner
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
- Current trends and cases on claims against law enforcement
- Latest legal developments arising from mass arrests
- Discussing the aftermath of Hill v. Hamilton: What have
the implications been for police standards and for the number
of negligent investigation claims?
- Resolving the conflict between the duty of care owed
to the general public and the duty owed to specific persons
- Responding to a malicious prosecution or negligent investigation claim
- When can a statement of claim be struck out?
- What is considered to be a statement of admission?
- Strategies for successfully responding to claims of excessive use of force
- Best practices for minimizing liability for police officers
- Training procedures, protocols, and communication for officers
- Defending common actions: malicious prosecution, negligent investigation, Charter violations, false arrest and false imprisonment
4:15 Closing Remarks by the Co-Chairs
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