CASUAL LEGAL: Section 534 Limitation Periods

Section 534 Limitation Periods

By Greg Weber

Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP

AMSC Casual Legal Service Provider

Section 534 of the MGA sets out land owner’s exclusive rights to claim compensation for damages arising from the construction of a public work abutting the land when there is no expropriation or access closure at play. The section has several restrictions for those advancing claims, including that claims are strictly limited to “injurious affection” (i.e. the loss of market value of the land) caused by the existence of the public work (but not its construction or use).

There are tight timelines that abutting land owners must meet in order to advance s 534 injurious affection claims. Within one year after the construction is completed, the municipality must deliver notice to abutting landowners that the work is complete. Abutting landowners then have 60 days under s 534(4) to “file with the municipality” a claim setting out the amount claimed and the particulars to prove the claim. Smaller municipalities may not have any set process for receiving or “filing” such claims, so often these will come in the simple form of a letter addressed to the municipality or perhaps to the CAO.

The MGA does not set out the details of procedure to be followed upon receipt of a “filed” claim, but s 534(9) allows the parties to proceed to binding arbitration. If this path is not chosen, s 534(10) provides that “[i]f the claimant and the municipality do not agree to have the amount of compensation for injurious affection determined by binding arbitration, the amount of compensation for injurious affection must be determined by the Land Compensation Board.”

What happens if binding arbitration does not occur and a claim is not quickly filed with the Land Compensation Board? Does the claim stay active indefinitely?

In Calgary (City) 854769 Alberta Ltd. 2020 ABLCB 7, a claimant filed its s 534 claim within 60 days but did not bring its claim to the Land Compensation Board until nearly four years later. In this recent decision, the City of Calgary applied to strike the claim because the claimant did not bring its claim to the Board within the normal two year limitation period.

The Board rejected this argument and permitted the claim to continue because, among other things, the Limitations Act does not apply to statutory claims required to be heard by administrative boards and tribunals, and also because the only time restriction for advancing a claim is set out in s 534 itself: “filing” with the municipality within 60 days of the notice that the public work is complete. In this case, the claimant had met that limitation period; no other limitation periods apply. If the municipality wanted to have the claim dealt with rather than sitting there indefinitely, the Board indicated that the proper relief was for the municipality to take the initiative to set the matter down to determine compensation.

Municipalities should be aware of the tight deadlines for s 534 claims. However, if that limitation is met and the claim dithers, the only current way to deal with the claim is to apply to the Board for a hearing.

To access AMSC’s Casual Legal Helpline, AUMA members can call toll-free to 1-800-661-7673 or email casuallegal [at] amsc.ca (casuallegal[at]amsc[dot]ca) and reach the municipal legal experts at Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer LLP. For more information on the Casual Legal Service, please contact riskcontrol [at] auma.ca (riskcontrol[at]auma[dot]ca), or call 310-AUMA (2862) to speak to AUMA’s Risk Management staff. Any Regular or Associate member of the AUMA can access the Casual Legal Service.

DISCLAIMER: This article is meant to provide information only and is not intended to provide legal advice. You should seek the advice of legal counsel to address your specific set of circumstances. Although every effort has been made to provide current and accurate information, changes to the law may cause the information in this article to be outdated.