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Login to watch this video if you have a subscription. Learn more about subscriptions.This construction law presentation surveys key remedies and risks under Ontario’s Construction Act, focusing on construction liens, holdbacks, trust claims and adjudication. It explains how lien rights arise from the supply of services or materials to an improvement, the transition between the old and new statutory regimes, and the strict preservation, perfection and set-down timelines that can extinguish liens if missed. The presentation reviews the different treatment of contractors and subcontractors, the distinction between liens that are registered on title and liens that must be given to public owners, common pitfalls such as liening the wrong lands or naming the wrong owner, and practical strategies for vacating liens by posting proper security in accordance with local practice directions. It highlights the structure and purpose of basic, finishing and notice holdbacks, the trust provisions that impose fiduciary-style duties on recipients of project funds and can expose directors and officers to personal liability, and the prompt payment adjudication regime, whose determinations are interim, enforceable through the courts and subject to judicial review. Overall, the presentation offers a practical primer that helps practitioners navigate the technical landscape of construction remedies, protect client rights and avoid costly procedural errors.
Anthony Imbesi is a partner at Rasmussen Starr Ruddy, LLP practicing in the areas of construction and commercial litigation. He handles a wide range of construction disputes including lien claims, delay claims, contract drafting and advice, occupational health and safety matters, and complex commercial disputes. In 2022, Anthony acted as Commission Counsel to the Honourable Justice William Hourigan on the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry, which investigated the commercial and technical circumstances leading to breakdowns and derailments on Ottawa’s light rail transit system.
Associate Justice Todd Robinson sits in the Superior Court of Justice in the Toronto Region. He devotes three-quarters of his time exclusively to construction litigation, with his remaining time spent hearing civil matters. Associate Justice Robinson’s construction work primarily involves conducting lien references under the Construction Act and hearing ex parte, unopposed, and contested motions, conducting lien action settlement conferences, and presiding over trials in his references. Associate Justice Robinson graduated from law school at Dalhousie University and was called to the bar in 2008. Prior to his appointment, Associate Justice Robinson was a partner at Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP practising in the Construction Law and Advocacy Practice Groups. He served for 6 years on the Executive of the Construction and Infrastructure Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association, serving as Vice-Chair at the time of his appointment. Before being appointed, Associate Justice Robinson practiced exclusively in the areas of construction and commercial litigation. His practice focused on construction and tendering advice and litigation (including construction liens, breach of trust claims, deficiency claims and delay claims), but he also maintained a broad commercial litigation practice for both construction and commercial clients. During his practice, Associate Justice Robinson partnered with a wide variety of clients, including a diversity of businesses in the construction industry (such as owners, general contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, pre-construction managers and project managers) as well as security guard services, banks, leasing and financing companies, municipalities, public institutions and individuals. Prior to focusing on construction, Associate Justice Robinson’s commercial litigation practice included construction litigation, real estate litigation (including mortgage enforcement and lease disputes), personal property disputes (including leasing and lien priority disputes) and creditor-debtor disputes, with experience in professional negligence matters, occupiers’ liability, environmental contamination, and various other types of negligence claims.
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