At ATAC LAW, we follow newly released court decisions that may affect the businesses, projects, property interests and disputes our clients are involved in. We review those rulings for the points that matter in practice, including how courts are interpreting contracts, allocating responsibility, applying established principles and addressing issues that continue to develop across British Columbia.
In Case Updates, we highlight selected decisions and explain what the court decided, how the reasoning may affect similar matters and why the ruling deserves attention. Our commentary draws on the areas in which we practise, including construction, commercial disputes, real estate and other complex litigation, with the aim of turning new case law into clear, practical insight.
24 insights
The Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered approximately $2.825 million in retroactive and prospective support following a high-net-worth divorce involving substantial assets in Canada and China. In Du…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered a builder to complete the sale of a newly constructed home for $845,000 plus GST, approximately five years after the original…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed Metro Vancouver’s attempt to reduce compensation for expropriated waterfront industrial land by $450,000. The Court rejected the argument that the assessed…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned orders striking construction payment claims and staying a separate builders-lien holdback claim because of overlapping court proceedings. The Court found that…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal refused a contractor’s application to appeal an arbitration award arising from engineering design errors on the Pattullo Bridge replacement project. Fraser Crossing…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld the striking of a negligence claim against the Province for allegedly failing to warn property purchasers about historical defects in a…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia found that homeowners fundamentally breached a cost-plus construction contract by withholding $87,625.70, representing most of the contractor’s fee. The breach entitled the…
Read MoreA civil-works contractor recovered more than $2.3 million in arbitration but was awarded 8% annual interest instead of the 59.99% rate specified in its agreement. The British Columbia…
Read MoreA mother who paid the entire $1.2-million purchase price of a Coquitlam home remained its beneficial owner, despite registering the property in her adult son’s name. The Supreme…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia declared a certificate of pending litigation (CPL) invalid and ordered the return of $265,000 deposited as replacement security. The underlying dispute concerned…
Read MoreA Residential Tenancy Branch decision may be set aside for inadequate reasons. The reasons must identify the legal test, material findings and evidence supporting the decision. Brenner v.…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia allowed a property owner to cancel a certificate of pending litigation (CPL) upon providing $90,000 in security, despite having rejected an earlier…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal granted a construction contractor permission to appeal an arbitrator’s dismissal of a claim exceeding $2 million as time-barred. The contractor had filed…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia set aside the property provisions of a cohabitation agreement concerning a home appraised at $1.745 million. Although one spouse had reviewed and…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia granted an emergency injunction against two former construction employees after their employer presented evidence that confidential tender and estimating materials had allegedly…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia rejected a constitutional challenge to investigators’ use of publicly available government reports concerning the 2014 Mount Polley tailings-storage failure. Although the regulatory…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia approved the $37.5 million receivership sale of a West Vancouver development and rejected attempts by a project manager and an unpaid contractor…
Read MoreThe British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld an oppression finding against those controlling a family investment company created through an estate freeze. A daughter who had accepted limited…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of British Columbia refused to approve a reverse vesting transaction that would have eliminated TimberWest’s and Domtar’s long-standing fibre-supply rights. The Court found that the…
Read MoreA contractor’s claim for more than $82,000 in alleged construction extras was dismissed after the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that years of inordinate and inadequately explained…
Read MoreIn Peters v Warlow, 2026 BCSC 1741, the buyers allowed a financing condition to expire and returned the next day with an offer $30,000 lower. The Supreme Court…
Read MoreIn 1075459 B.C. Ltd. v. Prince George (City), 2026 BCSC 1643, the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the plaintiffs leave to plead strict liability under the rule…
Read MoreResponsibility for installing property services and liability for using land contrary to a zoning bylaw are separate questions. In Cowichan Valley Regional District v. Pacifica 8 Systems Inc.,…
Read MoreThe B.C. Supreme Court declared 39 presale agreements unenforceable after material changes affecting the Lumina Eclipse development were not disclosed to purchasers as required under the Real Estate…
Read MoreNo insights found matching your filters.
We use cookies to run this site, understand how it is used, and measure our advertising. You can turn off anything that is not essential at any time. Cookie Policy