Underscoring Urgency: Family Matters in the COVID Crisis

April 20, 2020 - Owen Bird

On March 18, 2020, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia announced a suspension of all regular operations to protect the health and safety of court users and to help contain the spread of COVID-19, with only essential and urgent matters to be heard.  A copy of the notice may be found here.

In the family law context, the Court outlined what is essential and urgent, including:

Orders relating to the safety of a child or parent due to a risk of violence or immediate harm (e.g., a protection order, conduct orders, or exclusive possession of…

Builders Lien Limitation Periods Are Back!

April 17, 2020 - Owen Bird

Parties on all sides of construction contracts including, owners, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and consultants should be aware that the recent suspension of limitation periods has been softened.  On March 26, 2020, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General issued Ministerial Order no. M086 titled Limitation Periods (COVID-19) Order (the “Original Order”). The Original Order temporarily suspended certain limitations periods in the province of British Columbia, and had been slated to continue until the current state of emergency declared on March 18, 2020 expired or was cancelled.

On April 8, 2020, by way of a further Ministerial Order no….

New Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) Program Announced

April 17, 2020 - Owen Bird

On April 16 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Federal Government plans to introduce the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance.  This program is slated to provided rent relief to small and medium-sized business amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the finer details of the new program are yet to be released, aspects that have been alluded to thus far by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bill Morneau include:

a measure of relief is to be provided for rents due in the months of April, May and June; there will be an offer of loans (including forgivable loans) to commercial…

CATCH-22: COMMERCIAL TENANCIES AMID COVID-19

April 17, 2020 - Owen Bird

UPDATE: On April 16th the Federal Government announced tentative rent relief for small and medium-sized businesses. More details to follow.

You get the dreaded call.  Your tenant can’t pay rent.   Or you’re a commercial tenant forced to close shop and your landlord calls looking for this month’s cheque.  What do you do?

Landlords and tenants alike are facing these all-too-common scenarios amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. While the Government has provided limited assistance to residential landlords, these protections do not extend to commercial tenancies which remain, at their core, a strictly contractual relationship.

Commercial Lease Basics

The commercial lease governs the…

British Columbia Utilities Commission Response to COVID-19

April 16, 2020 - Patrick Weafer

Companies, organizations, and individuals alike have had to work hard to adapt to new realities during the COVID-19 pandemic. One such organization is the British Columbia Utilities Commission (“BCUC”), the independent regulatory agency of the BC Government operating under the Utilities Commission Act. The BCUC’s responsibilities include, among other things, regulation of our province’s energy utilities.

In swift response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, on March 20, 2020, the BCUC issued an Order to all regulated public utilities directing them to suspend customer disconnections for a minimum of 90 days for matters other than safety.

Taking further action,…

Response of BC Courts to the COVID-19 Pandemic – Court Access and Policies

April 14, 2020 - Sameer Kamboj

In response to the COVID-19 situation, the BC Provincial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal have each limited or suspended regular operations to comply with government directives on social distancing. For more information and updates from the Courts, please visit the BC Courts website.

BC Provincial Court

The BC Provincial Court has limited its operations such that only urgent matters will continue to be heard (by telephone). For a full list of matters that have been determined by the Provincial Court to be urgent and more details on the procedure for determining what constitutes an urgent matter,