28/05/2020 – Jurisdiction British Columbia
Part 71 published on 01/09/2020
Appeal Allowed. Strata Corporation may be entitled to legal representation before Civil Resolution Tribunal.
In a dispute about a repair and maintenance issue before the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), the CRT denied the strata corporation’s request to be represented by legal counsel in the CRT process. The strata corporation was granted leave to seek judicial review of the CRT’s denial. [See Condo Cases Across Canada, Part 62, June 2018.]
The BC Supreme Court dismissed the judicial review application (thereby confirming the Tribunal’s decision to refuse legal representation in CRT process). [See Condo Cases Across Canada, Part 64, December 2018.]
The strata corporation appealed to the BC Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and remitted the matter (as to whether or not the strata corporation could have legal representation on this case before the Tribunal) back to the Tribunal for fresh consideration. The Court of Appeal said:
It is clear to me that the scale and basis of the claim take it beyond the mere repairs referred to by the Tribunal, into a more complex zone of legal issues.
…
In my view, the Tribunal, by referring to this claim as involving “the authorization and maintenance of a sunroom”, in saying there is “nothing exceptionally unusual or complex about the subject‑matter of the dispute”, and in describing the claim as “a common dispute” and “typical”, without accounting for the complexity inherent to the claim itself, rendered an unreasonable decision. The issues raised include allegations of the commission of torts, vicarious liability for torts, issues of personal and corporate reputation and, potentially, jurisdiction. I conclude that absent meaningful consideration of these features, the Tribunal’s reasoning is flawed, and the decision is not reasonable.
The Owners, Strata Plan NW 2575 v. Booth, 2020 BCCA 153