Loose Promises Can Come Full Circle: Late-filed liens could be enforceable, if the facts are right
There are few, if any, cases in Alberta that directly answer the question: can an owner make a promise to a contractor to entice the contractor not to file a lien, only to later argue that the lien is out of time? Some jurisdictions have held that the contractor, in working with the owner and not filing a lien, will do so at its own peril and lose its lien right. However, a recent decision by Master Prowse, Boulevard Real Estate Equities Ltd. v. 1851514 Alberta Ltd., 2015 ABQ
Performance Based Incentives Could Survive Termination: LTIPS, vested or unvested, can be a substant
Long term incentive plans are a popular mechanism to both attract and, more importantly, retain senior level personnel. Such was the case in Styles v Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2015 ABQB 621, where a senior employee received compensation in the form of a long term incentive plan (LTIP). He received between $110k-$130k each year over three years of service that was contributed to his “unvested” portion of an investment fund. The employee was then terminated pr
When the Delay Really Isn’t the Contractor’s Fault: Someone has to pay and a “time is of the essence
Earthworks projects, while they may sound simple (“moving dirt”), often have many hidden land mines that threaten to throw both contracting parties into a tense and uncertain state on the project. The relatively recent case, Kon Construction Ltd. v. Terranova Developments Ltd., 2014 ABQB 256; aff’d Kon Construction Ltd. v. Terranova Developments Ltd., 2015 ABCA 249 (“Kon”) illustrates one such instance. Kon involved a very familiar set of facts and contractual clauses: Cont