{"id":20124,"date":"2021-10-04T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T17:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsslex.com\/?p=20124"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:04:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T22:04:32","slug":"20211004_what-is-an-interruption-of-prescription","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.staging.rsslex.com\/en\/bulletins-en\/20211004_what-is-an-interruption-of-prescription\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is an Interruption of Prescription?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- \n\n\n<p><strong>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staging.rsslex.com\/en\/avocats\/profil-individuel-des-avocats\/hmaurice\/\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Maurice<\/a>, from our Insurance Law Practice Group<\/strong>\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.staging.rsslex.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/20211004_Ballard-c-Gatineau_EN.pdf\"><strong>PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n --><\/p>\n<p><em>Ballard c. Ville de Gatineau<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/jj0st\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>2021 QCCS 3695<\/strong><\/a>, recently rendered by the Superior Court, deals with the effect of the recognition of a right by a defending party on extinctive prescription.<\/p>\n<h1>The parties\u2019 arguments<\/h1>\n<p>The case originated from the issuance of two infraction notices given by the City of Gatineau following embankment work carried out on their property by the plaintiffs. The latter`s position was that the notices were invalid. The City subsequently decided not to prosecute the alleged violations. The plaintiffs reacted by filing proceedings against the City for the loss caused by the interruption of the work that had followed the issuance of the illegal notices.<\/p>\n<p>The City argued that the notices were legitimate and that the decision to renounce prosecution was purely discretionary. As such, the plaintiffs failed to meet their burden to prove a fault having caused the damages claimed. Furthermore, the City argued that the plaintiffs\u2019 claim was statute barred given the six-month prescription period provided in <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/xr2#sec586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>section 586<\/strong><\/a> of the <em>Cities and Towns Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs argued that the prescription had been interrupted when the City recognized the legitimacy of their claim. They held that by deciding not to prosecute, and by informing the plaintiffs of the steps to take to claim compensation, the City had recognized their right, thus interrupting prescription.<\/p>\n<h1>The prescription<\/h1>\n<p>Pursuant to <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/z35#sec2898\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>article 2898<\/strong><\/a> of the <em>Civil Code of Qu\u00e9bec<\/em>, \u201c[a]cknowledgement of a right, as well as renunciation of the benefit of the time elapsed, interrupts prescription.\u201d The Court repeated the principles established by the Court of Appeal in <em>Poirier c. Gravel<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/glkpk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>2015 QCCA 1656<\/strong><\/a>. To validly conclude that prescription has been interrupted, the party that would benefit from it, the creditor, must demonstrate the debtor\u2019s clear and unequivocal intention to recognize his right and, accordingly, relinquish the benefit of the time elapsed. As the Court stated, even an offer to settle, in and of itself, is not sufficient to interrupt prescription. Furthermore, the person who allegedly recognizes the opposing party\u2019s right must have the capacity to bind the party on behalf of whom he purports to act.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, although the City had explicitly stated its intention not to prosecute and had informed the plaintiffs of the procedure to claim damages, the Court concluded that these statements were not tantamount to an admission that the City had committed a fault, and were not a recognition of the plaintiffs\u2019 alleged right to compensation.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, even if there had been a clear intention on the part of the City\u2019s spokesperson to acknowledge plaintiffs\u2019 rights, she was not authorized to bind the City.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, as the prescription had not been interrupted, the Court concluded that the debt had been extinguished by prescription and dismissed the application without having to consider the City\u2019s alleged fault or the plaintiffs\u2019 damages.<\/p>\n<p>The City of Gatineau was represented by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staging.rsslex.com\/en\/avocats\/profil-individuel-des-avocats\/justin-beeby\/\"><strong>Justin Beeby<\/strong><\/a>, partner in RSS\u2019s Insurance Law Practice Group. Justin\u2019s practice includes the defence of numerous cities and municipalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ballard c. Ville de Gatineau, 2021 QCCS 3695, recently rendered by the Superior Court, deals with the effect of the recognition of a right by a defending party on extinctive prescription. The parties\u2019 arguments The case originated from the issuance of two infraction notices given by the City of Gatineau following embankment work carried out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[245,242,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-and-commercial-litigation-en","category-insurance-law-en","category-bulletins-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Is an Interruption of Prescription? - STAGING - RSS - Robinson Sheppard Shapiro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is an Interruption of Prescription? - STAGING - RSS - Robinson Sheppard Shapiro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ballard c. Ville de Gatineau, 2021 QCCS 3695, recently rendered by the Superior Court, deals with the effect of the recognition of a right by a defending party on extinctive prescription. 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