Important Victory in Québec Superior Court Against the City of Quebec

On March 11, Langlois Kronström Desjardins won an important case in Québec Superior Court. The firm’s Hans Bois represented Desjardins General Insurance Group and several other insurers in a matter involving flooding caused by the overflowing of the Lorette River in the Québec City municipal area.

The insurers represented by the firm paid a total of $3.4 million to their clients for the damage they sustained. The insurers then sued the City to recover the amount of those claims, maintaining that the City was at fault for not having properly managed the river, for having ignored recommendations to limit development in certain areas and for having allowed excessive urban development without adequate safeguards. In its defence, the City pleaded that the rain which caused the river to overflow was exceptional and amounted to force majeure, and that the failure to follow recommendations and subsequent urban development did not contribute to the flooding.

Following a two-month trial, those arguments were rejected by the Court and the City was found liable.