Engineering firm Rousseau Sauve Warren reaches settlement with plaintiffs over collapse of roof panel at Montreal's Olympic Stadium

On June 29, 2007, all the parties to litigation launched in the wake of the collapse of a roof panel at Montreal's Olympic Stadium eight years earlier reached a settlement without admission of liability.

After a roof panel of the Olympic Stadium collapsed during preparations for the Montreal Auto Show in 1999, The Regie des Installations Olympiques (RIO) sued Birdair Inc. and Rousseau Sauve Warren Inc. (RSW) for $50 million to build a new roof and for $13 million in lost profits. Birdair had designed and built the new roof and RSW was the engineering firm that gave professional advice on the project. An additional 20 lawsuits claiming more than $21 million were also filed by exhibitors, their insurers and third parties for the damage allegedly sustained as a result of the failure.

After the case was declared ready to go to trial, the RIO, Birdair, RSW, their respective insurers as well as the various plaintiffs in the companion cases agreed to proceed with a settlement conference in June 2007 that lasted five days and was presided by the Honourable Mr. Justice Richard Wagner, s.c.j. of the Superior Court of Quebec.

All 22 lawsuits related to the panel collapse were settled and, while the details of the settlement are confidential, all cases were settled to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

In settling the case, the parties avoided 150 days of hearing for the liability issues alone. The hearing would have required the testimony of 100 witnesses (including 20 different experts) and the filing of 4,500 documents.

Martin Sheehan and Brigitte Chrétien of Fasken Martineau acted for RSW.