About this matter

Won professional negligence claim over erroneous vehicular access easement advice

The B.C. Supreme Court found the defendant law firm negligent in advising a purchaser that her property had a valid easement providing vehicular access, when the title documents did not clearly establish such a right. The Court held that a reasonably competent solicitor should not have given unqualified advice that the easement existed and should have warned the client of the risk of proceeding without a clearly registered access right. The Court accepted that the plaintiff would not have purchased the property had she been properly advised and awarded damages flowing from the steps she later took to secure access.