Commercial / Business Litigation

Complex commercial disputes met with strategic, well-prepared litigation, and a clear-eyed view of whether the better outcome lies in settlement or at trial.

Scope of work

• Complex contract & breach actions
• Complex tort actions
• Shareholder & partnership disputes; oppression
• Franchisor / franchisee disputes
• Construction & builders’ lien claims
• Commercial real-estate litigation
• Environmental & land-use (“toxic tort”) actions
• Expropriation, injunctions & debtor-creditor

Commercial litigation, often called business litigation, typically ensnares businesses that were once partners or that now compete. These cases are time-intensive precisely because both sides hold vested, long-term interests that the dispute puts at risk. The work demands legal representation genuinely up to the task: counsel who can frame the issues, manage the cost and pace of the proceeding, and drive toward a positive resolution whether by negotiated settlement or by judgment.

The firm handles the full range of commercial disputes. These include complex contract and breach actions; complex tort claims; shareholder and partnership disputes, including applications for the oppression remedy where the conduct of a corporation has unfairly prejudiced a stakeholder; franchise disputes; construction disputes and claims under Nova Scotia’s Builders’ Lien Act; commercial real-estate litigation; environmental and land-use actions; expropriation; and debtor-creditor and enforcement matters.

Strategy is set at the outset and revisited throughout. Litigation in Nova Scotia proceeds under the Civil Procedure Rules in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, and the route a case takes, whether pleadings, disclosure and discovery, interlocutory motions, or the occasional need for an injunction to preserve the position pending trial, is chosen for the result it is meant to produce, not by default. Many disputes are better resolved before trial; others must be tried, and the file is built from day one so that either path is available.

Underlying all of it is the firm’s commitment to communication and service. Commercial clients expect persistent, intelligent representation and a candid assessment of risk and cost at every stage, not a strategy that serves the litigation more than the litigant.