Law Library: News

Jamie voted a leading personal injury practitioner by other lawyers

2010-03-05T13:42:51+00:00

Managing lawyer Jamie MacGillivray was voted by his peers to be including in LExpert's directory of Canada's leading lawyers in the areas of personal injury and insurance law. The directory is compiled annually. Jamie is forty years old, the youngest such lawyer to be so designated in Canada in the area of personal injury law. For more information, please visit www.lexpert.ca.

Stirring up the Dust

2010-02-13T13:19:03+00:00

EVANSVILLE - Patty Lloyd feels like a broken record most days.

The Water Street resident has lived in the shadow of Pioneer Coal's open pit operation since it broke ground in the mid-1990s. Her street, and Lehigh Street, now form a tiny island of residential property, surrounded by an industrial moonscape.

In the last few years, or thereabouts, she's become vocal over concerns of dust and noise emanating from the mining operation and these days she's taking those concerns to just about anyone who'll listen. But she's run up against roadblocks just about everywhere she feels she can get an answer.

To be fair, there is a big white elephant in the picture now: in December, Lloyd and husband, as well as their neighbours, the Stewarts, filed a civil suit against the mine for nuisance. It's made some information channels inaccessible - but Lloyd says not much worse than they already were. Even before the suit was filed, Lloyd said she felt she was getting the run-around.

She goes to the Department of the Environment, the mine itself. Lloyd's become a regular at Stellarton council too, and brings new queries to the town at each opportunity.
With the Department of Environment, "We've been conversing back and forth for two years," she said. With several complaints, she says she'll get in touch with an inspector who'll come out and look around, take some pictures and then leave.

"And that's the last you hear of it," she said. "They move you in a circle - you go to this person and then another."
Penny McLeod, a manager at the department's Granton office, said whenever a complaint is received, "it's given to the individual who would be responsible for that file or that area. There are four inspectors - so one of the four would be given that complaint and then they'd be required to follow up on it."

Part of the issue has to do with how the mine is required to report dust and noise levels.

Stationed around the pits, there are four dust monitors, which run every six days for a full day. When they're in operation, the monitors are like vacuum cleaners. They suck in the air around them, filtering it through to capture particulate matter. The results taken from the monitors are submitted once per year.

McLeod said her department is monitoring dust levels for trends "if you see your numbers sort of creeping up, well you figure there's something going on there."

Additionally, she said a report is required whenever there is non-compliance.

Recently, Lloyd said she got a letter, telling her that instead of dealing with the department, they should be speaking with a citizens liaison committee. It's a group that Lloyd claims she's never heard of until the letter was sent to her.
The committee is formed of community members and businesses, which are meant to be representative of the public interest when it comes to concerns over the mine. While the committee is required under the mine's environmental assessment, they're not a government body and its members aren't required by law to divulge any information.

Linda MacDonald is the chair of that committee. The group used to meet quite regularly, she said.

"More when the mine first started - there were all kinds of issues that people were coming to us for. Then, after a lot of the houses and properties had been bought, and the mine was underway - it's sort of petered off."

About two and a half weeks ago, she said she received a call from Lloyd who was requesting information. On that first contact, MacDonald said she wasn't told of the pending lawsuit. And that's, obviously, limited what MacDonald and the committee can do.

"The information she was requiring cannot be had now, because she's got a lawsuit - so they're not going to give out information," MacDonald said.

MacDonald doesn't dispute that their lives have been disrupted. But still, she wonders, why after all this time has the issue of dust and noise only recently become a cause for concern.

"I understand what she's saying, but how come for the first 13 years, it didn't bother her?"

Then there's council, Lloyd regularly attends with questions ranging from the placement of MacGregor and Foster Avenues, road conditions. After one meeting, she requested that the town learn if the mine is encroaching on town property.

Some of those answers have come back. In November, Pioneer Coal outlined its plans for curbing and paving roads in the areas near the mine. But not all of them and getting action has been a slow process, she said.

"Town council, I've been at them for a while, it must be over a year. On the condition of this road in particular - the hole that's on the side (of the pit). Now they have a wall there or some sort of berm."

"I had to go to the chief of police. The council directed me to the chief of police. I don't know how many times I asked about that. I mean, you go 30 feet and fall down a hole that's 250 feet."

The mine is expected to operate in the area for a few more years. Lloyd said she has no plans of ceasing her work.

"I think they're just letting us go on, and on, and on, to see if we're going to tire. But, there's no hope in that, I don't think."

Families Fed Up

2009-12-23T13:09:06+00:00

STELLARTON - Two families in Stellarton are suing for damages against the strip mine in the town.

Robin and Patricia Lloyd and Charles and Angeline Stewart are named as plaintiffs in the statement of claim filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court against the strip mine, owned by Pioneer Coal and Nova Construction. They are suing for nuisance.

Both couples have lived in their homes in the Evansville area, near the strip mine, since 1993. A close-knit community where families have raised their children for generations, it's been virtually replaced by the strip mine.

"The plaintiffs state that in or around January of 1994, the defendants commenced the operations of the strip mine in close proximity and adjacent to the plaintiffs' homes," states the claim prepared by lawyer Jamie MacGillivray. "The strip mine expanded in the proceeding years, removing more acres of earth, flora and fauna around and adjacent to the plaintiffs' homes. The plaintiffs' homes are at the present time almost surrounded by the strip mine."

The families say the operation also produces excessive particulate matter, including coal dust, which damages their homes and diminishes property value.

The mine is operated in a way that also creates excessive noise, the statement claims.

"The defendants' heavy equipment and machinery produced unreasonably excessive noise in consideration of the proximity of the plaintiffs' homes to the strip mine," the statement notes. "The strip mine causes vibrations throughout the plaintiffs' homes."

The plaintiffs are also fearful of the potential harmful health effects caused from this exposure to the particulate matter.
The Lloyds and the Stewarts say these actions by the defendants constitute an unreasonable and substantial interference with their ordinary use and enjoyment of their homes for the tort of nuisance.

"Our office will be taking steps to try and assess the impact of this operation on the community as a whole," MacGillivray said. "The strip mine was expanded in recent years and is now less than one half a mile from G.R. Saunders Elementary School. We are going to access the Provincial Department of Environment records to determine what the province is doing to protect the community."

The two couples are seeking damages for the diminution of their property; the replacement costs for damages to their property and general damages.

The companies will be served within the next few days and will have 20 days to respond.

No one addresses dirt left behind by strip mines

2009-11-21T13:26:15+00:00

To the editor,

Some day take a walk to the top of the hill where the Stellarton water tower now stands. What a view of strip mining in progress: dirt road, dust rising in the air and noise. For 13-plus years residents in the area have been putting up with this, with no help in regard to property damage, and loss of peaceful living on our own property. As the north wind of winter blows, with it so does dust and dirt - the town of Stellarton in its tracks.

But don't complain about it, prove where it is coming from. That was a response I received when I put in a complaint about dirt on my lawn furniture, pool and in my windows. I contacted a firm in Dartmouth; their findings: sand and black angular particles that show no signs of wear. I paid for this test.

The strip mine's findings from their tests: vegetation contamination from the trees, the same ones that had been there before they started to mine. This test was done by their insurance adjuster for the company. That was the end of contact with the company, except for pictures of my property taken, and I was told we can come to an understanding regarding this damage. This was months ago.

And a BIG high-five to those who shadowed my door, voices of promise as elections loomed. I will thank all of you for over the last 13 years there are too many of you to list. Yours words of false promises have gone a long way for me, and others.

Thank you for space in your paper to voice not only my concerns but those who have the same as me. And also for the concern of others who have not been heard yet.

Patty Lloyd
Evansville, Stellarton