By Kathy Bevan

B.C. municipalities may soon be awash in legal claims after
a $3 million court judgment was rendered against the City of Delta,
a developer, a builder and an architect for failure to meet proper building
standards for the Riverwest condominium complex.

While Supreme Court judge William Grist found the Vancouver
suburb only partially responsible, assessing the city 20 per cent of the fine,
Delta could well be on the hook for the entire $3 million, as the other
defendants named in the lawsuit may no longer have the necessary financial
assets.  Held liable for the remaining 80
per cent of the award were: Canlan Ice Sports Corp., Van Maren Construction
Co., Grant Dumbleton, Architects, Elbe, Lock, Walls & Associates Inc., and
J. Novacek & Associates Ltd.

Delta will appeal the decision, but should the legal
precedent set by this case stand, it will have major ramifications for all the
municipalities involved. 

The Riverwest complex is only one of an estimated 1,100
“leaky condos” throughout B.C.’s Lower Mainland, all of which could potentially
follow Riverwest’s lead into the courts. 
Repair costs alone for all the condos involved could go as high as $1
billion. 

According to condo owners’ lobby group COLCO (Coalition of
Leaky Condo Owners), a further nine lawsuits have already been filed in the Vancouver
suburb of Coquitlam.  And the leaky condo
problem has not been restricted to the mainland:  a condo owner in Victoria filed a proposed
class proceeding earlier this year in the Supreme Court of B.C., seeking damages
as a result of negligence against B.C., the Attorney General of Canada and
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. 

The $3 million judgment in favour of the 85 owners of the
Riverwest complex was rendered by B.C. Supreme Court Judge William Grist, who
ruled that Delta had not adequately enforced Part 5 of the province’s building
code, which requires that a roof shed or drain water.

Riverwest lawyer Darrell Roberts says Delta offered his
clients $300,000 last October to settle the case out of court.  His clients rejected this offer as being too
low, but they had been willing to settle Delta’s liability for much less than
the city may now be forced to pay.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson has said the city will be able pay
the entire amount of the award out of its $3.2 million self-insurance fund,
should full payment become necessary. 
However, with an estimated 20 other “leaky condo” complexes within
Delta’s borders, the impact of this and any future settlements could be
financially disastrous for the city.

The leaky condo crisis has been hovering on the B.C. horizon
for several years now, with a number of owners, led by COLCO, actively pursuing
financial support for costly repairs that have drained savings accounts and led
to personal bankruptcies. 

The provincially appointed Barrett Commission, which
completed its two-year investigation into the leaky condo crisis last year,
supported financial compensation for the condo owners involved, calling on both
the province and the federal government for action.