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cases like the Supreme Court of Canada's 1995 decision in Winnipeg Condominium Corp. No. 36 v. Bird Construction Co. make it possible to go after builders many years after completion. In that case, the condo- minium corporation was able to recover its costs for repairing dangerous defects caused by negligent design and construc- tion 15 years after the building was sub- stantially complete. Unit owners had to pay to replace the entire cladding after discovering the problem when a large sec- tion fell nine floors to the ground. One problem Arnold frequently runs into with developer lawsuits is finding a source of money so he can enforce any judgment. "By the time the lawsuit raises its head, the builder-developer may have gone or the company is left as a shell," he says. But that doesn't stop him from pur- suing the matter if there's a case to be made for developer liability. One case he's currently working on involves a condo- minium corporation left with $500,000 worth of repairs to bring the project up to code. "The developer is saying they're not going to fix it, and there's no money left to fix it, so don't bother us," Arnold says. "So I have sued personally the developer's sole director, officer, and shareholder, try- ing to pierce through the company veil to get to the warm body, and he doesn't like it very much." Margulies is keen to stress that build- Tradition Business A of Whether conducting business in Canada or across the globe, Aird & Berlis LLP understands the realities of your work. Our clients benefit from the firm's solid relationships with major institutions, government authorities and renowned national and international law firm affiliates. We combine the depth and strength of Canada's largest firms with the creativity and effectiveness of smaller firms. Count on us for legal counsel from a business perspective.® Eldon Bennett Managing Partner ebennett@airdberlis.com 416.865.7704 ings with alleged glass problems have been meeting the Ontario Building Code, and says the falling balcony episode pro- vides a textbook example for the way developers and the authorities should react when issues arise. In a November report, Toronto's city council recom- mended emergency amendments to the province's building code after investigat- ing six buildings at four sites affected by falling glass from balconies. Those included the Festival Tower at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and a number of buildings owned by Lanterra Developments. By the time the report came out, Lanterra had already announced plans to replace tempered glass on its balconies with lam- inated glass. The process for making the less expensive tempered glass involves putting stress into the glass, which means that it breaks into small pieces when it fails. Laminated glass, on the other hand, does not shatter, meaning it is more likely to stay in place when it does crack. "Our first priority is the safety of the public and our residents," said Lanterra in a state- ment in August when the change was announced. Margulies says the Building Industry Brookfield Place, 181 Bay Street T 416.863.1500 F 416.863.1515 Suite 1800, Box 754 Toronto, ON M5J 2T9 www.airdberlis.com and Land Development Association's members were immediately involved with the city to find out why glass was falling and what should be done about it. "You can only build in terms of standards that are set, so if there's something wrong with the standards or one of the prod- ucts, then it has to be determined and the builders will work with it," he says. "The code is always being upgraded and we work closely with the building code commission." In addition to strict code compliance, Margulies says developers need to go 28 • FEBRUARY 2012 ntitled-2 1 INHOUSE 8/25/11 12:01:27 PM