Section 22 of the Expropriations Act imposes a critical limitation period – Claimants who have suffered losses as a result of a partial taking of their property or whom have suffered injurious affection to their property or business where no land has been taken, must provide the statutory authority with written notice of injurious affection (“IA”) within one year after the damage was sustained or after it became known. If not, compensation claims for injurious affection are “forever barred.”
A plain reading of s. 22 outlines three key points: (1) notice must be given in writing; (2) notice must be given one year after the damage was sustained; and (3) if notice was not given within one year after the damage was sustained, notice may also be provided after damages became “known” to the person.
On what date does a Claimant know, or ought to have known, they have a claim for IA? The case law has been generous to Claimants who have
valid and unvexatious compensation claims for IA, and this is appropriate. In Willies Car & Van Wash Ltd. v. Simcoe (County) 2015, L.C.R. 39, OMB (upheld on appeal), the OMB noted that it is not reasonable to delay giving notice until after the full amount of the loss is calculated. Instead,
the Board found that s. 22 notice was due one year after the Claimant knew that a road closure was the alleged cause of its income losses – the Board held that notice was due, at the latest, 12 months after a road closure was
finalized and losses began to mount. The Board also noted that “the Claimant is also required to act diligently to inform itself of any loss giving rise to a claim.”
Where construction works are ongoing (i.e., with the Eglinton Crosstown) or other large scale infrastructure projects, injurious affection can theoretically be happening on a daily basis to the business or property; accordingly, a rolling limitation period applies, whereby damages can be claimed for one-year prior to the date the notice was issued. Where the injurious affection ceases, the section 22 notice has to be issued no more than one-year following that date.
If your property has been expropriated in Ontario or you have suffered an unreasonable interference from government construction works, it is important to protect all of your interest (i.e., the market value of the property expropriated, any damages for injurious affection, personal and business losses, and disturbance damages). These categories of damages are expressly stipulated in the Expropriations Act and have specific interpretations that have been applied by the Courts in Ontario. A qualified expropriation lawyer will assist the claimant in understanding the totality of their claims for damages under the Act.