Monthly Archives: August 2008

The ERCB asserts its jurisdiction to determine the validity of an oil and gas lease

Cases Considered: In re Desoto Resources, Joffre Field, ERCB Decision 2008-47

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In an unusual decision the ERCB has asserted its jurisdiction to determine the validity of an oil and gas lease. While the Board has in recent years been forced to make rulings on complex questions of property law such as the competing rights of coal owners and natural gas owners to coal bed methane (In re Bearspaw Petroleum, EUB Decision 2007-24) as well as the competing interests of bitumen producers and natural gas producers (Alberta Energy Company Ltd. v. Goodwell Petroleum Corporation Ltd., 2003 ABCA 277, reviewing EUB Decision 2000-21) this is, so far as I am aware, the first reasoned decision of the Board in which it has passed on the validity of an oil and gas lease. Desoto’s application in the Court of Queen’s Bench for a declaration as to the validity of the leases was pending at the time of the Board’s decision.

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No Costs Awarded for Failure to Prosecute Aboriginal Fishing Rights Case

Cases Considered: R. v. Nest, 2008 ABQB 323

PDF Version:  No Costs Awarded for Failure to Prosecute Aboriginal Fishing Rights Case

Donald Marshall, David Milgard, and Guy Paul Morin are the troika of wrongful conviction cases in Canada, bringing to mind overzealous prosecution of innocent persons and the compensation required to right those wrongs. But what about the opposite scenario, where the failure to prosecute is alleged to constitute a rights infringement deserving of compensation? This was the argument made by the claimants in a recent Alberta case.

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Queen’s Bench Boosts Municipal Bylaw Making Powers

Cases Considered: William Holowatiuk v. Beaver County, 2008 ABQB 290

PDF Version: Queen’s Bench Boosts Municipal Bylaw Making Powers

This decision takes a broad view of municipal powers granted under the Alberta Municipal Government Act (R.S.A. 2000, c. M-26) (MGA). In doing so it finds that statutory provisions that limit municipal powers may not limit municipal bylaw making power. Although the Court engaged in an extensive historical and statutory interpretation exercize in reaching its decision, in my view, the decision failed to consider a key provision of the MGA, section 13. If it had, the Court might well have reached a different conclusion.

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Conflicting Interests, Conflicting Judgments and the Ethical Obligations of Lawyers and Judges

Cases Considered: Hughes Estate v. Hughes [2008] A.J. No. 739 (Q.B.) (Q.L)
Note: We will add a link when this judgment is posted on the Alberta Courts website.

PDF Version: Conflicting Interests, Conflicting Judgments and the Ethical Obligations of Lawyers and Judges

Introduction
At what point do a lawyer’s personal beliefs create a disqualifying conflict of interest? What are the obligations of a judge when a party is unrepresented by counsel? In addition to other issues (not discussed here), the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench judgment in Hughes Estate v. Hughes [2008] A.J. No. 739 (hereinafter “Hughes Estate“) raises these problems, the first directly and the second indirectly.

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