On July 3, 2002, the British Columbia Court of Appeal issued reasons in Sutherland v. Vancouver International Airport Authority, 2002 BCCA 416. The Court allowed the appeal and dismissed the Plaintiffs' claims for nuisance arising from aircraft using a new runway at the Vancouver International Airport that opened in 1996.
The claim was commenced in 1997 as an intended class proceeding. When the application for certification was dismissed in November, 1997, the owners of several hundred properties were added as plaintiffs. The claims of the owners of three properties were tried over 41 days in the Fall of 2000. Judgment was given in July, 2001 awarding the plaintiffs damages ranging between $40,000 and $75,000 per property. The trial judge found that the noise from the aircraft using the new runway constituted a nuisance and concluded that the defence of statutory authority was not available to either the airport authority or the federal crown.
Although the Court of Appeal agreed that the aircraft noise constituted a nuisance, it allowed the appeal concluding that the defence of statutory authority had been established. The Court concluded that the operation of the runway at its precise location was authorized by a statutory scheme implemented by the federal government under various acts and regulations, and the nuisance was the inevitable result of its location and operation.
Allan Seckel (litigation and class actions) and Andrew Borrell (litigation and class actions) of Fasken Martineau represented the Vancouver International Airport Authority.
To link directly with Sutherland v. Vancouver International Airport Authority, 2002 BCCA 416, click HERE.