Complying with the “Local Venue Rule”

While most BCSC matters can be commenced at the registry of the plaintiff’s choosing, certain matters must be commenced at the registry or judicial district nearest to the land at issue (unless the parties agree or the court orders otherwise). Often, this arises in foreclosures or builders lien claims.

It can be confusing which registry or judicial district applies, especially for those communities that fall within multiple judicial districts in BC (e.g., Shawnigan Lake). Unless you moonlight as a cartographer, determining this from the exhaustively detailed definitions in the County Boundary Act can be confusing, to say the least: see Island Savings Credit Union v. Brunner, 2014 BCCA 449.

Fortunately, you can easily sort this out using the free web-based iMapBC tool, available here: https://lnkd.in/g_c45RAD. The “ABMS – Counties” layers show the boundaries of each of the court counties in BC, and you can use this to quickly determine which county (i.e., judicial district) the land falls within.