On June 10, 2025, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta issued a judgment awarding damages to Dow Chemical Canada ULC and Dow Europe GmbH against NOVA Chemicals Corporation in a total amount of C$3.561 billion. The damages are believed to be the highest commercial award in Canadian history.
The judgment relates to NOVA Chemicals’ operation of the companies’ jointly owned ethylene plant in Joffre, Alberta, Canada between 2001 and June 2018.
The case originally went to trial in 2015 and 2016. In June 2018, the Court granted judgment in Dow’s favour in the amount of $1.43 billion, with additional damages for the 2013 to 2018 years to be assessed. In September 2020, the Court of Appeal directed that Dow’s damages be recalculated. Several years of proceedings followed to determine the quantification of the resulting damages award to Dow for the full 2001 to 2018 period.
On April 7, 2025, the trial Court ruled again in Dow’s favour, and awarded damages to Dow in the amount of $3.561 billion. A final remanded contractual severance issue remains to be decided by the Court, and costs remain to be assessed.
The Bennett Jones team representing Dow as lead counsel includes Blair Yorke-Slader KC, Bruce Mellett KC, Ciara Mackey, David Wahl, Adam Williams, Russ Kruger, Liz Allum and Tao Browne.
Dow's press release on the judgment is available here.
Bennett Jones