Erin Hatch*

*Erin Hatch Law Corporation

Partner

She/Her

Erin is a versatile and experienced litigator, maintaining a practice spanning commercial, real estate, insolvency and estate disputes.

Biography

With over a decade of experience advising a diverse set of clients, Erin has established a reputation as practical, knowledgeable and tenacious. Her rich and varied litigation resume is a testament to her versatility. She has achieved successful results for clients at all levels of court in British Columbia and at the B.C. Securities Commission.

Erin’s commercial litigation practice includes acting for individuals and companies in a variety of industries. She has successfully handled a broad spectrum of disputes which include breach of contract, defamation, misrepresentation, conspiracy, fraud, real estate and shareholder claims.

In her insolvency and restructuring practice, Erin represents secured and unsecured creditors, trustees and debtors in insolvency and debt collection proceedings, as well as the enforcement of foreign judgments in BC. Erin also holds a particular expertise in foreclosures, having represented one of the big five banks in many hundreds of foreclosure proceedings. Her focus now is acting for private lenders in commercial foreclosure proceedings.

In Erin’s estate litigation practice she advocates for executors, trustees, beneficiaries and disinherited family members. Erin appreciates the stressful and emotionally charged nature of estate disputes and brings sensitivity and understanding in advising clients on will validity, wills variation, mental capacity, trust  and contested spousal status matters, among others.

Education
  • University of Saskatchewan, J.D., 2012

  • University of Calgary, B.A., 2008

Bar Admission
  • British Columbia, 2013
Languages spoken
  • English
Experience
Commercial and Other Litigation, representative cases include:
  • Represented a corporation and its director in their successful defence against fraud allegations totaling approximately $65 million at a 10 day B.C. Securities Commission hearing (Re Pegasus Pharmaceuticals, 2021 BCSECCOM 374).

  • Represented a minority interest property owner in obtaining an order to sell a property pursuant to the Partition of Property Act (Ruskowsky v. Hadden, 2021 BCSC 1141).

  • Represented defendants in obtaining an order that a corporate plaintiff and personal plaintiff post security for costs of over $100,000 before they could proceed with their lawsuit (Noland v. Organo Gold Enterprises Inc., 2021 BCSC 858). Successfully obtained an order dismissing the entire lawsuit against the defendants based on their failure to pay the security.

  • Represented an investment and financial services firm in successfully upholding the registration of a foreign judgment pursuant to the Enforcement of Canadian Judgments and Decrees Act at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal (Capital One, National Association v. Solehdin, 2020 BCCA 182 upholding Capital One, National Association v. Solehdin, 2019 BCSC 1593).

  • Represented a fiberglass company at a 21 day trial in its successful defence against a breach of royalty agreement claim. The trial also included fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation claims (Billing v. Precisioneering DKG Corp., 2017 BCSC 1777).

  • Represented property owners in obtaining orders to cancel certificates of pending litigation wrongfully registered by the plaintiff or not pursued by the plaintiff in a timely manner (for example, see Wai v. Chung, 2020 BCSC 34).

  • Represented mortgagees and mortgagors in many hundreds of foreclosures proceedings from the issuance of the demand letter to the court approved sale of residential and commercial property.

  • Represented individuals who have been defamed online, including through social media, online reviews and blogs. Successfully obtained Norwich orders against Facebook, Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Bell Canada Enterprises to produce information to uncover the identities of the authors of the defamatory publications.

  • Represented judgment creditors to recover payment on judgments including by compelling the sale of debtors’ properties pursuant to the Court Order Enforcement Act.

Estate and Family Litigation, representative cases include:
  • Represented a wife against her former husband and father-in-law at a 15 day family law trial against claims by the husband and father-in-law that a property and company shares were held in trust by the husband for the father-in-law. The husband also sought to set aside the separation agreement which transferred the property and shares to the wife. The court dismissed the trust claims and upheld the separation agreement transferring the property and shares to the wife (Ma v. Liu, 2023 BCSC 283). Successfully obtained a special costs order in favour of the wife against the husband and father-in-law (Ma v. Liu, 2023 BCSC 691).

  • Represented a respondent in obtaining an order at the Court of Appeal for the appellants to pay over $240,000 in security for costs before they could proceed with their appeal (Ma v. Liu, 2023 BCCA 309). The security for costs order resulted in the appellants abandoning their appeal.

  • Represented the appellant in the appeal of a high-profile estate trial (Mother 1 v. Solus Trust Company Limited, 2021 BCCA 461). At issue was whether the appellant was in a “marriage like relationship” with a wealthy businessperson who had five children with five different mothers and subsequently died without a will.

  • Represented executors of an estate in successfully proving the validity of a will and dismissing allegations that the will-maker was unduly influenced and did not have capacity to make the will (Re Charbonneau Estate, 2021 BCSC 2571).

  • Represented a spouse at a 12 day high net worth family law trial with respect to the valuation and division of multiple assets in Canada, the United States and Mexico (Rochon v. Rochon, 2018 BCSC 1899 and supplementary reasons Rochon v. Rochon, 2018 BCSC 2215).

  • Represented trustees, executors and beneficiaries in passing of accounts matters.

  • Represented individuals in their appointment as committees under the Patients Property Act.

Professional Credentials
Leadership
  • Life In Law, Guest Blogger
Memberships
  • Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch Subsections, Member: Civil Litigation, Insolvency Law, Wills & Trusts
  • Insolvency Discussion Group, Member
  • The Law Society of British Columbia, Member
  • Vancouver Bar Association, Member

Recognition

Named as One to Watch in the area of Corporate and Commercial Litigation in Vancouver by Best Lawyers Canada®

2022 – 2024

Get in touch with

Erin Hatch*