Victory for Développements St-Antoine as the Expropriated Party is Fully Compensated

Développements St-Antoine (DSA) has won another victory before the Court of Québec in its expropriation dispute with Québec’s ministry of transport (MTQ).

Let us recall that in this case, the expropriating party had waited, without valid reason, 40 months after the valuation date set on the date of publication of the expropriation notice to take possession of DSA’s lot and pay provisional compensation. Tribunal administratif du Québec (TAQ) judges had awarded Développements St-Antoine more than $22,300,000 in compensation for the loss of appreciation in the value of its building between the valuation date and the date of payment of the provisional compensation.

The Court of Québec recently dismissed MTQ’s appeal of the TAQ decision and confirmed that DSA was entitled to the loss of appreciation in value, totalling $11,792,000. DSA’s cross-appeal, which sought to set a different date for calculating the loss of appreciation in value, was also dismissed.

In upholding TAQ’s findings, the Court of Québec established an important principle, whereby an expropriating party that sends a notice of reserve must be prepared, promptly after sending the notice of expropriation, to take possession and pay provisional compensation.

The Court of Québec also opened the door to the possibility for an expropriated party to present “all kinds of claims to be compensated for the prejudice caused by the long delay” taken by an expropriating party to finalize the process of expropriation. The Court considered that it would be unjust if owners, who wanted to keep their property but had it taken away for the benefit of the community, had to wait 40 months to obtain their compensation, at which point they were unable to obtain an equivalent property. Consequently, according to the Court, the community must compensate the expropriated party in full.

This decision bolsters the right of expropriated parties to fair and full compensation and reiterates the fundamental principle that the expropriating party must act fairly and diligently to minimize the damage caused to the expropriated party.

BCF is proud to have acted on behalf of Développements St-Antoine on this matter, with a team consisting of Simon Pelletier, Vicky Berthiaume, Geneviève Bernier Gosselin, and Maxime-O. Brassard-Samson.