ODR 2001

The respondent municipality brought a motion to recall the appellant for cross-examination based on newly discovered documents containing statements attributed to the appellant that contradicted his discovery and trial evidence regarding crop damage and flooding.

The Drainage Referee granted the motion in part, allowing the recall and cross-examination on a newspaper article and a reporting letter (subject to waiver of solicitor-client privilege), but excluded two other letters as protected by settlement privilege.

The appellant and several downstream neighbours appealed the engineer's report for the Upper W. J. Douglas Municipal Drain, arguing that the drain did not have a sufficient outlet and caused downstream flooding.

The Referee found that there was a need for drainage but that the drain had not been taken to a sufficient outlet, and that the upper end of the drain had been over-excavated.

The Referee ordered the Drainage Engineer to conduct a survey of the downstream watercourse and prepare a preliminary report on obstacle removal or injuring liability, and referred the determination of the downstream extension and injuring liability to the Ontario Drainage Tribunal.

The applicants claimed $250,000 in damages from the respondent municipality for the alleged non-repair of a municipal drain between 1988 and 1996.

The municipality had completed extensive repairs and installed a pump system in 1988, which restored the drain to its original specifications.

The applicants failed to serve written notice of disrepair on the municipality between 1988 and 1996, as required by section 79 of the Drainage Act.

The Drainage Referee held that the failure to provide the mandatory statutory notice precluded the applicants from claiming damages for the years 1988 through 1995.

The claim for those years was dismissed, while the claim for 1996 and costs were reserved.

The Town of Niagara-On-The-Lake brought an ex parte motion to amend By-Law No. 1902-88 regarding the Thompson Municipal Drain.

The Ontario Drainage Referee ordered that the time for service be abridged and that the Drainage Report and By-Law be amended on an interim basis.

The amendment will become permanent unless assessed owners file representations requesting a hearing within 20 days of being served.

The appellant and respondent reached a settlement regarding a matter transferred to the Ontario Drainage Referee by the Superior Court of Justice.

On consent of the parties, the Referee ordered the respondent to pay the appellant $7,500 in damages pursuant to section 118(1) of the Drainage Act.

The damages are to be levied upon the lands and roads assessed for the William Cornwall Drainage Works.

The respondent's costs of the application are to form part of the costs of the drainage works under section 73(1) of the Act.

Following unauthorized drainage works that caused severe erosion and sedimentation on downstream properties, the affected landowners commenced actions for damages and injunctive relief.

The matters were transferred on consent to the Drainage Referee.

Recognizing the need for immediate remedial action and a comprehensive drainage scheme, the Referee assumed procedural control and ordered the preparation of a Drainage Report.

After extensive consultations, hydrological modelling, and multiple hearings to address the competing interests of agricultural, commercial, industrial, and downstream landowners, as well as environmental concerns regarding fish habitat, the Referee approved the amended Drainage Report and directed the Township to pass a by-law adopting its design provisions.