Notice of potential claim

Note from Rideau / Roxboro Community Association :

Among the many special protections enjoyed by municipalities like the City of Calgary is a requirement pursuant to s.532(9) of the Municipal Government Act  that states that you must notify the municipality of the event that gives rise to an action within 30 days after the occurrence of the event. This may be delivered to the City or emailed to [mailto:claims@calgary.ca claims@calgary.ca ]. A sample email is below.

To whom it may concern,  In accordance with s.532(9) of the Municipal Government Act, consider this email notice of a potential claim against the City of Calgary due to the recent flooding of my property. My contact information is below: Name: [INSERT NAME] 

Address: [INSERT ADDRESS]

Phone No.: [INSERT PHONE NUMBER] 

  Everyone that thinks they may pursue a claim should send their own notice, and should seek legal advice about their rights . We are not by this notice providing legal advice.  A notice does not oblige you to take any further action. It is hoped legal action is not necessary. <span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">

<span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Note from neighbours who are lawyers

<span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">(We) were debating whether we should send in a notice to the city or not. We weren’t going to, but thinking about it today we decided to do it. The notice keeps the door open to sue the city as a result of actions they took in response to the flood. The cautious view is that today is the last day to do this. It doesn’t mean we will proceed with a lawsuit, but there are too many unknown factors at this stage for us to rule out suing the city (or the province for that matter, but there is no imminent notice required for a claim against it). With respect to a claim against the city, I am not an engineer or a water management expert, but in my mind I can’t rule out the possibility that the berm slowed the flow of the water enough that it somehow resulted in backup into the city sewers or overland. For many homeowners, insurance may not cover all or any of their sewer backup, and definitely not overland flooding. This may be pertinent to all residents of Elbow Park and other surrounding neighbourhoods.

<span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">While we will likely be covered for the lion’s share of the damage to our basement by our insurer, we don’t have a cheque in hand for all of the damage, so we are keeping all of our options open.

<span lang="EN-US" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">If you like, please feel free to take the above and paraphrase to the email group. You can reference it is the thoughts of two lawyers that live in Elbow Park, but please do not identify us as we can’t be seen to be giving legal advice on the subject (for a number of reasons, including that the email group aren’t our clients).