Kinji C. Bourchier, KC (he/him/his) is a partner in the Litigation Group at Cassels and the National Co-Chair of the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Arbitration team. A leader in his field, Kinji’s primary practice areas include complex commercial and civil litigation with a focus on contractual disputes, environmental remediation claims, product liability claims, shareholder and transactional disputes, and business torts. Kinji offers particular expertise in the field of environmental remediation cost-recovery claims and contaminated-site litigation.
Kinji regularly appears as lead counsel in the British Columbia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and has appeared before multiple administrative tribunals, including the BC Securities Commission, Property Assessment Board, Environmental Appeal Board and Surface Rights Board. Kinji also has appeared as lead counsel in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench.
Examples of Kinji’s client successes include:
- Represented a US-based global coating manufacturer in a leading remediation cost-recovery case which analyzed the legal status of the reliance on historical comfort letters provided by government regulators and entities. The case is one of the most significant environmental cases in BC in terms of quantum, legal principles, and precedential effect regarding the Environmental Management Act and remediation cost recovery claims (I. Properties Inc. v. PPG Architectural Coatings Canada Ltd., 2015 BCCA 240).
- Successfully defended a third-party logistics company in a lengthy trial before the Supreme Court of British Columbia involving a claim in excess of C$200 million based on allegations of unjust enrichment, conversion, quantum merit and waiver of tort (Can-Auto Inspections Inc. v. Vascor, Ltd., 2011 BCSC 1644).
- Successfully represented a Canadian mattress retailer in a 42-day trial before the Supreme Court of British Columbia involving allegations of inducing breach of contract and business torts, including interference with economic relations (Canadian Bedding Company Ltd. v. Western Sleep Products Ltd., 2009 BCSC 1499).
- Successfully represented the defendant, a multinational energy corporation, against historic contaminated site claims under the Environmental Management Act in one of the pioneering cases in British Columbia on remediation allocation of costs claims (Gehring et al. v. Chevron Canada Limited et al, 2006 BCSC 1639).
Prior to joining Cassels, Kinji served as a litigation partner in the Vancouver office of another prominent national firm. Before that, Kinji also worked for over 20 years at another leading, litigation-focused firm where he served in multiple leadership roles, including as part of the elected Executive Committee and served as Litigation Group Manager.
