Case information

Limitation of actions — Expropriation — Compensation for injurious affection — Whether claims for compensation for injurious affection are subject to New Brunswick’s general limitation of actions statute?

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

In 1992, the Province of New Brunswick expropriated portions of land owned by Paul Emile Soucy for highway construction. In 1993, the Province made a statutory offer to Mr. Soucy for $11,121. Mr. Soucy provided written particulars for compensation for injurious affection within one year of expropriation, as required under s. 47(1) of the Expropriation Act, RSNB 1973, c E 14. Following Mr. Soucy’s written notice, neither party attempted to negotiate a settlement of the claim for injurious affection for years. In 2013, 20 years and four months after the expropriation took place, a law firm representing Mr. Soucy filed a Notice of Arbitration to commence proceedings in the Court of Queen’s Bench. Under the Expropriation Act and its Regulations, the Notice of Arbitration constitutes an originating process. In 2018, the Province filed a motion seeking a determination of a question of law, namely whether Mr. Soucy’s Notice of Arbitration was statute-barred. A chambers judge of the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench dismissed the motion, holding the applicable limitation period is prescribed by the Expropriation Act. The New Brunswick Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and dismissed Mr. Soucy’s action on the basis that the limitation period in the Limitation of Actions Act, RSNB 1973, c L 8, had expired.