This case was heard in the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench (Trial Division).

Soilbac Recycling Inc. ("Soilbac") carried out remediation work on roughly fifty-two truckloads of contaminated soil. Soilbac alleged that William J. Kerr Limited ("WJK") had requested the work after having been hired by another company, Divco Management Corporation ("Divco"), to remove the soil from a contaminated property. Soilbac alleged that because the parties could not agree on a price, it attempted to return the soil, but was unable to do so. It eventually carried out the remediation work, and it sent an invoice to Divco, which refused to pay. Soilbac then initiated legal proceedings against several parties, including WJK, Divco, the owner of the contaminated property, and the owners of the underground storage tanks that had caused the contamination. In doing so, Soilbac filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the Court to determine the issue without requiring it to proceed to trial.

All but one of the defendants disputed Soilbac’s claims, and in order to grant a summary judgment, the Court had to be convinced that there was no reasonably arguable case before it. After reviewing the history of the case and the defendants’ Statements of Defence, the Court held that it was not “plain and obvious” that there were no defences requiring a trial. Because the parties’ Statements included disputed issues of fact and law, and because those disputes would need to be resolved in a trial, Soilbac’s motion for summary judgment was dismissed.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbqb/doc/1998/1998canlii12264/1998canlii12264.html

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