PAYMENT NOTICE LETTER
(EXPEDITED PROCESS FOR SMALL CLAIMS)
Ottawa, 10 July 2024
SOPF File: 120-998-C1
Manager – Operational Support
Compliance and Enforcement
Canadian Coast Guard
200 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E6
Via email to DFO.CCGERCostRecoveryRSP-RecouvrementdescoutsIESIPGCC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
RE: Unknown Name (Kouchibouguac, fishing vessel) – New Brunswick
Incident Date: 2023-07-11
SUMMARY
The claim in this matter has been received into the Expedited Process for Small Claims under the Marine Liability Act, SC 2001, c 6 (the “MLA”). It has passed initial screening.
Therefore, please be advised that a payment to the Canadian Coast Guard (the “CCG”) in the amount of $20,447.40, plus statutory interest, is being requisitioned in response to the claim submitted in this matter and will be directed without delay.
It is recommended that the claimant collect and maintain the documents supporting its claim. To this point no complete examination of the merits of the claim has taken place. A more thorough examination can take place if the Administrator determines that the claim should be reassessed. Supporting documents, such as invoices, payment records, contracts, communications, and reports are necessary to help establish within reassessment that the claim was fully justified.
Reassessment can take place at any point up until three (3) years after the underlying incident. During reassessment, the claimant must provide documents requested by the Administrator within thirty (30) days of the request. Failure to do so can result in the claimant becoming liable to repay the entire amount indicated above, irrespective of the underlying merits of the claim.
Please also give care to the “Important Notice” below. It describes how the findings made on reassessment can result in the claimant being required to return some, or all, of the above payment.
ASSESSMENT
This letter was prepared in response to a submission from the CCG with respect to a fishing vessel with no known name. The CCG reports that on 11 July 2023, it was alerted to a discharge of oil from a fishing vessel near Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick. A CCG crew travelled to the incident scene and found that the fishing vessel was hard aground. The CCG crew made efforts to remove oil from it. Thereafter, the CCG monitored efforts to refloat the vessel, which efforts were not successful. The vessel subsequently broke apart. The CCG evaluated whether pieces of the vessel should be removed and elected not to do so.
On 21 May 2024, the office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund (the “Fund”) received a submission from the CCG on behalf of the Administrator. The submission was submitted on the forms for the Expedited Process for Small Claims. It presented a claim for $20,447.40 for costs and expenses arising out of measures taken by the CCG with respect to the Incident.
The submission has been assessed as a submission under subsection 106.1(1) of the MLA, as required by subsection 106.3(1) of that Act.
Based on the results of this assessment, the Administrator has no reason to suspect that the claim should be disallowed for failing to comply with the conditions set out at subsection 106.1(1) of the MLA or for failing to comply with subsection 106.1(2).
Pursuant to subsections 106.3(4) and 116(1) of the MLA, the Administrator is therefore required to direct a payment in the amount of the claim, which is $20,447.40, plus interest.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The claimant should be aware that, upon payment, the Administrator becomes subrogated to the claimant’s rights with respect to the subject matter of the claim. The claimant must cease any efforts to further claim with respect to that subject matter (except for any claim for economic damages where the claimant has suffered no property damage, which the claimant may continue to pursue). Further, the claimant must cooperate with the Fund as efforts are made to recover any amounts paid to the claimant from the party or parties responsible for the Incident.
The claimant should further be aware that––as noted above––under subsection 106.5(1) of the MLA, the Administrator has until three years after the Incident to investigate and reassess the claim. Upon request by the Administrator, the claimant is required to provide supporting documents within thirty (30) days, in default of which the claimant may be required to repay the payment.
It is recommended that the claimant begin gathering supporting documents immediately to avoid defaulting on the timeline for document submission.
If, as a result of a reassessment of the claim, it is determined that there was an overpayment, the claimant will be required to repay the difference between the amount claimed and the amount determined appropriate under the reassessment. This repayment requirement also applies to an appropriate pro rata portion of any interest paid to the claimant.
Yours sincerely,
Chiamaka Mọgọ, MPPGA
Deputy Administrator, Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund