Commencing or Transferring a Claim
to the Supreme Court

The Expropriation Amendment Act (S.B.C. 2004, c.61 as amended) provides for the transfer of jurisdiction over expropriation compensation proceedings from the Expropriation Compensation Board to the B.C. Supreme Court and, for the winding up of the Board. As of March 18, 2005 the Government of B.C. made further Regulations which have the effect of implementing the above Act and, which describe in greater detail the actual process whereby matters will be transferred to the Court.

(Link to Legislation: Expropriation Amendment Act, and B.C. Regs. 95/2005 through 100/2005. Of particular relevance are 97/2005: Transitional Regulation and 100/2005, Compensation Action Procedure Rule.)

Definitions:

"in-progress board proceeding" means a board proceeding if one of the following applies:

(a) the board held a compensation hearing in the board proceeding after August 1, 2004 and before March 18, 2005 and the board has not yet rendered its compensation decision in that proceeding;

(b) there has been an appeal to the Court of Appeal in relation to the board proceeding and the appeal has been heard, in whole or in part, before March 18,2005;

(c) before March 18,2005, a hearing in the board proceeding was scheduled to commence after March 17, 2005 and before January 1, 2006;

"unset board proceeding" means a board proceeding that is not an in-progress board proceeding.

Claimants wishing to pursue a claim for compensation under the Expropriation Amendment Act, RSB 2004, c.61 must do so by filing a writ of summons (Form 1 - Writ of Summons) to which is attached a statement of claim (Form 13 - Statement of Claim). The writ may be filed in the local/closest court registry and appropriate filing fees will be applied. A person who files a writ of summons under subrule (7) must serve that pleading on the defendants within 10 days after the date on which the writ of summons was filed or within such longer period as the court may order. You may wish to review the B.C. Supreme Court self-help information centre, in particular it's brochure, "Starting a civil proceeding in Supreme Court".

Those individuals who have already opened a claim under the Expropriation Compensation Board, (filed a Form A, Application for Determination of Compensation) but which has been determined to be an "unset proceeding before the Board", may transfer the proceeding by completing Form 1, Parts 1 and 2 of the Compensation Action Procedure Rule, and forwarding it to the Deputy Attorney General to request that the proceeding be transferred to a local Supreme Court Registry for continuation. Filing fees are waived for this transition.

If you require further information about that process you may contact:

Carol Anne Rolf, Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Legislation Office
Ministry of Attorney General, PO Box 9283, Stn. Prov. Govt.
Victoria British Columbia V8W 9J7
Phone 250 356-5157