Sydney Steel Corporation v. MacQueen, 2012 NSCA 78 (CanLII)

July 19, 2012 Ryan Oxner

This case was heard in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

A group of plaintiffs from Sydney, Nova Scotia initiated legal proceedings against Ispat Sidbec Inc. (Ispat), Hawker Siddeley Canada Inc. (Hawker), Domtar Inc. (Domtar), the Province of Nova Scotia, the Canadian National Railway Company, and the federal Crown, in a complex case that alleged property contamination, environmental hazards, and health concerns resulting from the operation of coke ovens, a steel plant, and related industrial facilities in Sydney.

Over the course of several legal proceedings, the plaintiffs restructured their case until it took on its final shape as a class action claim against Sydney Steel Corporation, the Province of Nova Scotia, and the federal Crown. The plaintiffs applied for class action certification, and in order to grant them that certification the Court had to determine whether the plaintiffs met the requirements listed in Nova Scotia’s Class Proceedings Act.

After the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia decided that the plaintiffs had met the requirements, the defendants applied for leave to appeal to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. After leave to appeal was granted, the defendants filed a motion for stay, requesting that the plaintiffs not be allowed to move forward with the next stages of their class action suit until the defendant’s appeal had been heard.

After considering the defendants’ arguments, the Court of Appeal concluded that a stay was unnecessary. The plaintiffs’ litigation plan made it clear that over the next several months, the main kinds of work that would be done would be the completion of the pleadings, the exchange of documents between the parties involved, and examinations for discovery. With this in mind, the Court saw no reason to prevent suit from moving forward until after the defendants’ appeal had been heard.

To read about further appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada, go to Neila Catherine MacQueen, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, et al., 2015 CanLII 17890 (SCC) and Neila Catherine MacQueen, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, et al., 2015 CanLII 1219 (SCC).

To read about this case in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, go to MacQueen v. Sydney Steel Corporation, 2011 NSSC 484 (CanLII), MacQueen v. Sydney Steel Corporation, 2012 NSSC 461 (CanLII), and MacQueen v. Sydney Steel Corporation, 2013 NSSC 442 (CanLII).

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2012/2012nsca78/2012nsca78.html

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