AIM back in court in Saint John to fight against suspension of operating license

Lawyers for American Iron & Metal were back in court in Saint John on Tuesday to sort out a tangle of court filings.

Even Justice Thomas Christie of the Court of King’s Bench was a little at a loss as to how to efficiently untangle the intertwined legal disputes that grow in number with each court date – including a new document filed on Monday and another on Tuesday.

Christie said he was “fearful that the final decision on the issue on the path we are now on will be months – and I mean many months – away.”

He also feared that “scheduling could be a problem.” He said the case reminded him of a circus act in which several plates are circling in the air at the same time.

“You can only spin so many plates,” he said.

“The more plates I have to spin, the harder it becomes to find the answer your customer needs.”

Clarke Tedesco, a civil litigator with Toronto-based firm Crawley MacKewn Brush LLP and part of the team representing American Iron & Metal, leaves the Saint John courthouse Tuesday afternoon. (Mia Urquhart/CBC)

Christie suggested that AIM attorney Clarke Tedesco use the opportunity to find out whether the plaintiffs “want to move the chairs here on the patio.”

With the goal of streamlining the legal process, Christie encouraged both sides to come together to see if they could find a more efficient way to get to the heart of the matter.

The legal mess began in February when AIM sought a judicial review of the Environment Minister’s decision to suspend the company’s operating licence following the massive fire at the company’s port scrap yard last September.

The New Brunswick government then asked the Court of King’s Bench to dismiss the company’s application. The province’s lawyers filed a motion asking that AIM’s application be “dismissed and dismissed” on the grounds that it had become null and void after the company’s operating licence expired at the end of April.

And since then, the number of court filings has only increased.

The Sept. 14 fire prompted a citywide curfew due to hazardous smoke. (Submitted by Ed Moyer)

It now consists of three letters of request, two applications and three referrals – a process created by the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It allows an applicant who has requested access to records to ask the court to review the disclosures provided by the public body and either order further disclosures or confirm the decision of the head of the public body to refuse access.

“It seems to have taken on a life of its own,” Christie said.

After spending about an hour Tuesday discussing how to approach the intertwined motions before the court, Christie drew up a game plan for the next court date on Aug. 8. On that day, Christie said, they will consider “at least” a motion for intervenor status from the Saint John Community Coalition.

The newly formed grassroots group, previously known as Liveable Saint John, which advocates for the permanent closure of the scrap yard or stricter regulations, filed an application to join the group last month.

AIM suspended after fire on September 14

Former Environment Minister Gary Crossman revoked AIM’s operating license on September 19 because he “believed that the scrapyard fire on September 14 resulted in an unauthorised release of pollutants”, which constituted a violation of the Clean Air Act.

The fire raged for two days and led to a city-wide curfew due to dangerous smoke.

This also led to the establishment of a task force to investigate the fire. The group’s final report was released in December and said that future fires at the scrap yard were likely and “a catastrophic fire like the one on September 14, 2023 could occur again.”

It was also determined that AIM’s location right on the water, not far from hundreds of homes on the west side, was “completely unsuitable given the now known dangers and risks.”