Case information

Civil procedure — Case management — Time — Transitional law — Insurers bringing actions against state following torrential rain and flooding in Saguenay region in 1996 — Presumed discontinuance by insurers recognized by Superior Court following years of inaction, under new provisions of Code of Civil Procedure — Court of Appeal setting aside trial judgment and finding that new Code was not of immediate application in this case — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in finding that new Code did not apply immediately in this case — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in adding exception to immediate application of transitional provisions of new Code, where legislature did not deliberately provide for this — Code of Civil Procedure, CQLR, c. C 25.01, arts. 51, 173, 177, 833.

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.

(SEALING ORDER)

The respondents are insurers of companies that sustained considerable damage in 1996 when there was catastrophic flooding in the Saguenay region. After compensating the insured companies, the insurers each brought, between 1997 and 1999, an action in subrogation against the applicants — the Attorney General of Quebec (“AGQ”) and the Société québécoise des infrastructures (“SQI”). Following a long period of inactivity, during which the Code of Civil Procedure underwent two significant reforms, the AGQ and the SQI filed an application to have the presumed discontinuance of the insurers’ lawsuits confirmed.

The Quebec Superior Court allowed the application by the AGQ and the SQI and confirmed the insurers’ presumed discontinuance of their actions. The Court of Appeal allowed the insurers’ appeal, set aside the Superior Court’s judgment and referred the cases back to the Superior Court.