Enviromental Law

Case 2 – Erhardt - O’Malley – Spring Water Company

The case in question shows is a great example of the importance in knowing our beautiful country’s laws. This case specially touches on Canada’s Environmental Law and how with time its importance has come into effect. Its development and evolution from the 20th to 21st century has introduced and adopted multiple new legislations to follow our society’s evolution. The goal of this case’s assessment is to help determine which party is at fault and who is liable for those damages. The most practical way to determine who is at fault is by breaking down each parties acts, play by play and analysing the parties responsibility and determining the torts as they develop.

The O’Malley family’s action in purchasing the property was the first act to analyse, and in my opinion, the only act. Any individual wanting to do business in Canada has a responsibility in ensuring they are well informed of the laws, by laws and any other responsibility in the business transactions in which they proceed in. The O’Malley should have done their due diligence when purchasing the property and engaged a company to perform a “clean environmental audit” as a precondition to the purchase of the land. “Careful lawyers, strongly recommend to buyers in a land purchase to make an environmental audit of the property before the purchase is finalized.” The action in engaging a company to perform the environmental audit would have mitigated the O’Malley family’s risks and could have given them great leverage in negotiating a better price for the land. “Audit is a useful tool in reducing the risks associated with commercial property purchases. An audit may reveal long-forgotten buried fuel storage tanks, waste disposal sites, and, sometimes, soil contaminated with hazardous products produces in the distant past by previous owners of the site.”

The O’Malley family could have protected themselves when hiring Erhardt to execute the excavating...