Geotechnical News • September 2016
45
GEO-INTEREST
liability under the Negligence Act,
R.S.B.C. 1979 Chapter 298, whether
it be in contract or tort. It seems to
follow that I need not be concerned
whether the duty which I have found
to be breached arose out of the
original contract between plaintiff and
defendant or out of the general law of
negligence, nor do I think I need con-
sider whether the duty breached by the
defendant was one in respect of which
the contractor might have claimed
against it for indemnity or contribu-
tion, rather than a duty owed directly
to the plaintiff.
Judgement
The total damages claimed are
$98,667, consisting of $65,708 as
cost of repair, and $8,251 as lost ten-
ants’ contributions to municipal taxes
and $24,708 as lost rental income
during the period for which the
premises were incapable of occupa-
tion because of settlement and repair
work.
I have endeavoured to segregate the
costs and losses which would prob-
ably have been saved or prevented
had the problem been identified
before the floor had been poured and
the interior of the building completed.
I approximate the avoidable repair
costs at $34,000, and I would attribute
one-half of the 14-month period of
rental loss to this delay in identifying
the problem- in representing about
$12,000 in lost income—and also
one half of the resulting additional
municipal tax burden, that is to say
about $4,000. The delay in identifying
the problemwhich was to result in fail-
ure accounts for roughly half of the
total damages attributed to the failure.
Thus I have said that the defendant is
equally responsible with the Contractor
for that additional cost and loss, or for
about 25 percent of the total damages
claimed.
I would have allocated the total fault
for the failure of the building and
resulting damages 25 percent against
the defendant, 25 percent against the
plaintiff and 50 percent against the
Contractor and would have allocated
the costs of the action in the same
proportions. I find the plaintiff to
be entitled as against the defendant
to 25 percent of the total damages,
or $24,667, plus 25 percent of the
plaintiffs taxable loss, less 75 percent
of the defendant’s taxable costs.
The plaintiff is entitled in addition to
pre-judgement interest, at the rates
awarded from time to time during
the relevant period by the District
Registrar on default judgements. The
relevant period may, I think, fairly
be set as being from March 1, 1980,
to today’s date as to one-half of
the damages, and from September
1, 1980 to today’s date as to the
remainder.
Since the allocation of the dam-
aged items which I have made was
not addressed in argument, I would
be glad to hear counsel if either
party should feel that I have erred in
apportioning the loss and expense
incurred as between that which would
and would not have been experienced
had remedial measures been taken
earlier, or in any other matter of
calculation.
June 6, 1983.
Le MCIF est désor-
mais disponible en
français. Pour rester
au fait de l’état ac-
tuel de la pratique et
fournir des renvois
cohérents et à jour
au Code national du
bâtiment du Canada
(CNBC 2005) et au
Code canadien sur
le calcul des ponts
routiers (à CCCPR
2000 et 2005), une
équipe de 17 experts
a préparé le MCIF
2013.
ISBN 978-0-920505-55-7
488 pages.
Prix de catalogue:
280,00 $CDN
Prix pour les membres
de la SCG : 200,00 $CDN
Prix pour les étudiants :
135,00 $CDN
Available from/Disponible chez
BiTech Publishers Ltd.
CANADA
The CFEM (2006) was
prepared by a team
of 17 contributors to
keep abreast of current
state-of-practice and
to provide a consistent
and up-to-date cross-
reference to the Na-
tional Building Code of
Canada (NBCC2005)
and the Canadian
Highway Bridge Design
Code (CHBDC 2000
and 2005), enabling
the user to interpret the
intent and performance
requirements of these
codes.
CANADA
MANUEL
CANADIEN
D’INGÉNIERIE
DES FONDATIONS
4eÉDITION
SOCIÉTÉCANADIENNEDEGÉOTECHNIQUE 2013
CANADA
4thEDITION
CANADIANGEOTECHNICALSOCIETY 2006
CANADIAN
FOUNDATION
ENGINEERING
MANUAL
canadian FOUndaTiOn
EnGinEERinG ManUaL
4TH EdiTiOn, 2006
Publications of the Canadian Geotechnical Society
ISBN 978-0-920505-28-7
504 pages.
Catalogue price:
$280.00 CAD
CGS Members
$200.00 CAD
Student price :
$135.00 CAD
ManUEL canadiEn
d’inGéniERiE dEs FOndaTiOns
4E édiTiOn, 2013
