Forestry Litigation
Counsel from Hunter Litigation Chambers appear regularly before the Forest Appeals Commission, the British Columbia Supreme Court and the British Columbia Court of Appeal on forestry related matters. Our lawyers have represented major licensees and other forest companies on a broad range of administrative, litigation and arbitration disputes dealing with a variety of forestry related subjects including opportunities to be heard under the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Forest Act, stumpage appeals, compensation claims against the government and arbitrations under the Timber Harvesting Contract and Subcontract Regulation.
Our forestry practice is headed by John Hunter, Q.C. John has been recognized as a leading practitioner in forestry law by the Lexpert rating service. In addition to the broad based work described above, John has also acted for the forest sector in responding to aboriginal rights and title claims for more than 20 years.
Some of the recent forestry cases our counsel have handled include:
- Western Forest Products Limited v. British Columbia
(British Columbia Court of Appeal, 2009), a successful appeal
of a challenge to a decision of the Forest Appeals Commission
relating to whether it was unsuitable to appraise a licensee
using an appraisal log dump that was unavailable for use by
any other licensee
- Canadian Forest Products Limited v. British Columbia
and the Forest Appeals Commission (British Columbia
Supreme Court, 2009), a successful appeal of a decision of the
Forest Appeals Commission relating to the authority of the
Minister to retroactively change stumpage rates for timber
that had already been scaled.
- British Columbia v. Foster Forest Products Limited and
others (British Columbia Supreme Court, 2008),
successfully represented two licensees in a summary trial
relating to the scope of the lien created in favour of the
Crown by s. 130(1)(d) of the Forest Act.
- Hayes Forest Services Limited v. Teal Cedar Products
Ltd. and others (British Columbia Court of Appeal, 2008),
an appeal that established, among other things, the
jurisdiction of an arbitrator appointed under the Timber
Harvesting Contract and Subcontract Regulation to deal
with equitable remedies
- Hayes Forest Services Ltd v. Weyerhaeuser Company
Limited (British Columbia Court of Appeal, 2008),
successfully represented a major licensee in upholding an
arbitration award in its favour in a dispute concerning a
timber supply execution agreement and the treatment of certain
road construction costs under that agreement.
- Powell Daniels Contracting v. Cascadia Forest Products
Ltd. (Arbitration, 2008), successfully defended a fairness
objection raised by a contractor in response to a Forestry
Revitalization Proposal made under the Timber Harvesting
Contract and Subcontract Regulation
- In the matter of the Request by TimberWest Forest Corp
under s. 32 of the Private Managed Forest Land Act for
reconsideration of a Determination made by the Private Managed
Forest Land Council, dated September 27, 2007 (Private
Managed Forest Land Council, 2008) – prepared submissions for
TimberWest Forest Corp. to the Council seeking reconsideration
of a determination that TimberWest failed to exercise due
diligence to prevent a contravention of s.18 of the Private
Managed Forest Land Regulation. On reconsideration, the
original finding was reversed and the Council found that
TimberWest had taken all reasonable steps to prevent the
alleged contravention.
- International Forest Products Ltd. v. British Columbia, (British Columbia Supreme Court, 2006), successfully challenged a series of decisions made by the Ministry of Forests to issue stumpage invoices based on an “estimate scale” of harvested timber being transported by water to the Lower Mainland. The decision granted the return of excess stumpage to International Forest Products Ltd. arising out of the quashing of the Ministry estimate scale decisions and related stumpage invoices.