Atlantic Canada Insurance Counsel

C3 Legal is a modern insurance law firm, representing clients from Newfoundland to British Columbia (except Quebec).

A known quantity to clients throughout Canada, C3 Legal is united by a commitment to providing our clients responsive and cost-effective service.

From Our Blog

Case Commentary: Flowers v Allterrain Contracting Inc., 2017 NSSC 194

The recent case of Flowers v Allterrain Contracting Inc., 2017 NSSC 194, confirmed that the standard for snow removal and maintenance is reasonableness, not perfection. The standard of reasonableness is measured against the evidence that the Defendant introduces as to what snow removal and maintenance practices are in place. Snow removal practices do not have to be ideal to be reasonable. On February 17, 2010, the Plaintiff slipped and fell on ice when exiting a Wal-Mart store in Halifax. She...
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C3 Legal adds two new lawyers

We are proud to announce the addition of two lawyers to the C3 Legal Team! Kyla Russell has been with our firm since 2013, and brings with her over 15 years of legal research and writing experience on all aspects of insurance law including Coverage, Bad Faith, and Cyber Risk. Sarah-Jo Briand Sarah-Jo is a law graduate from the University of New Brunswick. She earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from Dalhousie University, and brings with her considerable experience serving the ...
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Nancy Murray, KC, named Best Lawyers® 2017 Halifax Insurance Law “Lawyer of the Year”

Congratulations to Nancy Murray! C3 Legal is delighted to announce that Nancy has been named the Best Lawyers® 2017 Halifax Insurance Law “Lawyer of the Year”. Nancy has also been selected by her peers in the legal community for inclusion in the 2017 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada© for Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation, and Product Liability Law. C3 Legal is extremely proud to have Nancy as a member of our team, and pleased to see her expe...
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Nancy Murray, KC, named Best Lawyers ® 2016 Halifax Personal Injury Litigation “Lawyer of the Year”

Congratulations to Nancy Murray! C3 Legal is pleased to announce that Nancy Murray has been named the Best Lawyers® 2016 Halifax Personal Injury Litigation “Lawyer of the Year”. Nancy has also been selected by her peers in the legal community for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada© for Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation, and Product Liability Law. We are proud to have Nancy as a member of the C3 Legal team and delighted to ...
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Nova Scotia’s new Limitation of Actions Act becomes effective September 1

Nova Scotia’s new Limitation of Actions Act has been awaiting Proclamation since it received Royal Assent on November 20, 2014. The Government of Nova Scotia announced this week that the new Act will be proclaimed and come into effect on September 1, 2015. This will significantly change the civil litigation landscape in this province. A limitation period is the period of time between the date of a person’s injury, loss, or damage and the date after which he or she can no longer bring a claim....
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Litigation Privilege: “Do we really have to show them that?”

Hatch Ltd. v Factory Mutual Insurance Company, 2015 NSCA 60 A necessary part of the civil litigation process is the exchange of documents between parties, which normally occurs after all pleadings are filed. Privileged documents do not have to be produced. Privilege falls into two general categories—solicitor-client privilege and litigation privilege. Solicitor-client privilege is communication between clients and their lawyers for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. Solicitor-client pr...
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Take It To The Limit

The Nova Scotia Bar is anticipating proclamation of amendments to the Limitation of Actions Act, contained in Bill 64, although a date has not been announced and there are currently some further amendments to the final wording under contemplation. The main reform will be the implementation a basic two-year limitation period from the discovery of the cause of action with a 15-year ultimate cutoff from the time the incident occurred (with some exceptions, e.g. sexual abuse, aboriginal equitable...
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The Crowd

A recent Nova Scotia case caught the attention of the insurance community following a decision of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Garden View Restaurant v. The Portage La Prairie Mutual Insurance Co. The circumstances of the case are not particularly novel. An oil spill occurred at the Plaintiff’s property after a length of copper pipe was stolen from the heating oil system by vandals. The Defendant insurer denied coverage for remediation of the land under the building affected by the esc...
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CASE COMMENT: Moore v. Getahun, 2015 ONCA 55

The Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Moore v. Getahun has wide-ranging implications across Canada for all parties who engage experts. We anticipate the decision being followed in Nova Scotia. It holds that while impartiality of experts is of critical importance in litigation, this does not require a ban on communication between experts and the lawyers who retain them. In fact, lawyers play an important role in assisting experts to deliver a report that is intelligible and responsi...
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Does the front end know what the back end’s doing?

You probably won’t hear a lot of insurance defence lawyers saying this, but we have a lot in common with farmers. We tend to reap what we sow. We don’t do it for the glamour. And you might say that we get to see the back end of a lot of claims, as well as the “products of digestion” through the judicial system. Many times, we see files where unfortunate policy wordings, indifferent investigation, or stubborn resistance to obvious truths, have derailed the makings of a good defenc...
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