Court of Appeal rules dock at end of right-of-way can stay

The Court of Appeal has released its decision in a right-of-way case I argued before it on October 11.  The Court overturned a trial decision that prohibited the appellant landowners from using their right-of-way to a lake to access a dock they had constructed in the lake.  The local conservation authority had granted a permit for the dock, but the owners of the right-of-way opposed the presence and use of the dock. 

 

On behalf of the Court of Appeal, Justice Goudge ruled that the right-of-way in question was one of general use and that accessing the dock was not an overburdening use of the right-of-way.  Importantly, he stated that, "what the user does immediately after leaving the right of way cannot be said to affect the use made of the right of way at all.  Accessing the dock does not extend the right of way beyond the shoreline."

 

Read the decision at: Kendrick et al. v. Martin et al.