Shane Rayman and Conner Harris Successfully Obtain Reimbursement of Owner’s Costs in Expropriation Proceeding Before the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal

Shane Rayman and Conner Harris successfully obtain reimbursement of a land owner’s legal, appraisal and other professional costs arising from an expropriation proceeding after a two-day contested costs hearing before the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The Expropriations Act requires that owners who experience an expropriation are to be made economically whole for the process of obtaining fair compensation arising from an expropriation. Important to this is reasonable recovery for legal and expert fees incurred during the process for determining compensation. The expropriating authority in this case challenged the legal fees claimed by the owners, saying that both the amount of time expended on the process and the hourly rates charged were excessive. LPAT determined that the hourly rates charged were reasonable and proportionate to Shane’s “specialist knowledge and considerable experience in expropriations law.” It recognized his breadth of experience representing clients in complex expropriations matters, his contributions to the literature and his leadership within the Ontario Expropriation Association, as well as the responsibilities involved in being a founding partner at Rayman Beitchman LLP. The Tribunal also accepted the owner’s position that the fees are subject to compensable interest from the date the settlement was reached. The full decision, Hume v Ontario (Transportation), 2019 CanLII 117324 (ON LPAT), can be found here: Read More