Owners-Condominium Corp. No. 0425636, The Estates of Clareview v. Amyotte's Plumbing Ltd. et al., 2015 ABQB 801

• Judge: Schulz
• Neutral Citation: 2015 ABQB 801
• Subject Matter: PRACTICE
• Citation: 2015 ABQB 801,[2015] A.R. TBEd. DE.126,[2015] AR TBEd DE126
• Date: 15 December 2015
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)

Condo. Corp. 0425636 v. Amyotte's, [2015] A.R. TBEd. DE.126

MLB being edited

Currently being edited for A.R. - judgment temporarily in rough form.

Temp. Cite: [2015] A.R. TBEd. DE.126

Owners-Condominium Corporation No. 0425636, The Estates of Clareview (plaintiff) v. Amyotte's Plumbing Ltd. and Ipex Inc. (defendants/applicants)

(1403 04102; 2015 ABQB 801)

Indexed As: Owners-Condominium Corp. No. 0425636, The Estates of Clareview v. Amyotte's Plumbing Ltd. et al.

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Edmonton

Schulz, Master

December 15, 2015.

Summary:

A condominium complex was constructed in 2005, at which time Amyotte's Plumbing Ltd. installed the plumbing system using material from Ipex Inc. On March 11, 2012, Save-On Mechanical Ltd. repaired a glycol leak at the condominium. On March 23, 2012, there was a water/glycol leak. The condominium corporation sued Amyotte's and Ipex, alleging, inter alia, negligent design, manufacture, and installation of the PVC fittings. Ipex filed its statement of defence on September 14, 2014. The deadline for filing a third party claim without a court ordered extension was March 18, 2015. Amyotte's filed its statement of defence on November 6, 2014. The deadline for filing a third party claim without a court order was May 16, 2015. On August 7, 2015, the defendants applied for leave to file and serve a third party claim against Save-On. The issues to be determined were (1) identification of the applicable test and the results of applying its to the current circumstances; and (2) whether Save-On could request relief independent of the application.

A Master of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench identified the applicable test and dismissed the application. The court stated that "The time limits in Rule 3.45 are not limitation periods, and can therefore be extended by Court order pursuant to Rule 13.52. ... The Applicants have met the low threshold present in these circumstances to be successful. The short delays here are not inordinate and have been adequately excused in the circumstances. Any prejudice that might be suffered by Save-On can be met through monetary compensation. ... This is an appropriate situation to extend the time period and I hereby do so. The filing of the Third Party Claim is allowed provided it is filed and served within 20 days of the date the Applicants receive these written reasons. The Third Party Defendants have 30 days from service of the Third Party Claim within which to file and serve a Statement of Defence to Third Party Notice or a Demand of Notice."

Practice - Topic 1043

Parties - Third party or subsequent party procedure - General - Application of limitation period - See paragraphs 13 to 39.

Practice - Topic 1069

Parties - Third party or subsequent party procedure - Application - Time for - See paragraphs 13 to 39.

Practice - Topic 1136

Parties - Third party or subsequent party procedure - Third party notice - Extension of time for issuance or service of - See paragraphs 13 to 39.

Counsel:

D. Chronopoulos (Chatwin LLP), for the applicant, Amyotte's Plumbing Ltd.;

A. Kos (Brownlee LLP), for the applicant, Ipex Inc.;

B. Carr (Carr Defir), for the respondent, Save-On Mechanical Services Ltd.

This application was heard in Chambers, on December 15, 2015, by Schulz, Master, of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Edmonton, who delivered the following reasons for judgment on December 15, 2015.