C. Nicole Mangan

OVERVIEW

Nicole is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group and a key member of the firm’s management committee. Her practice is focused on Commercial Leasing, Real Estate, and Employment and Human Rights disputes. She acts for commercial landlords and tenants, property managers, real estate owners and developers, strata corporations, employers, employees and insurers. Nicole is recognized by Best Lawyers® in Commercial Leasing Law.

She has significant litigation experience and has appeared before all levels of court in B.C. and several tribunals on a wide variety of commercial matters. However, Nicole is often able to resolve disputes through negotiation and mediation. She is also adept at representing clients in arbitrations.

Nicole is a sought-after lecturer on commercial lease disputes and employment and human rights matters to both industry organizations and organizations providing education for lawyers.

Nicole provides legal services through C.N. Mangan Law Corporation.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENT WORK

Commercial Leasing

• Advises clients on:
  • Failure to pay rent and rent distress
  • Breach of lease
  • Fixture ownership
  • Abandoned premises or goods
  • Evictions
  • Nuisance
  • Contractual interpretation
  • Application of human rights and employment laws on tenancy and property management matters
• Acts for landlords and tenants on renewal rent arbitrations
• Notable cases:
  • Defended a landlord from an appeal of an order from summary trial in which the landlord was granted a substantial monetary award arising from the tenant’s breach of lease
  • Obtained a Writ of Possession after successfully defeating the tenant’s argument that section 16 of the Commercial Tenancy Act could be interpreted to permit overholding
  • Demonstrated a live/work property was a commercial premise and successfully obtained a Writ of Possession under the Commercial Tenancy Act

Real Estate

• Advises developers, property owners, buyers and sellers on:
  • Breach of contract
  • Arbitrations
  • Collapsed sales
  • Disputes involving multiple owners, including obtaining orders for sale
  • Charges on title to a property, such as easements
• Notable cases include:
  • Acted for clients in an arbitration involving a dispute among multiple owners over the interpretation of a multi-owner use agreement covering a large tract of land
  • Successfully argued that a B.C. court has jurisdiction in a case where the property was located in B.C., even though the corporate party was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and the individual parties resided outside Canada
  • Obtained significant damage awards for buyers and sellers in collapsed transactions, and in one case for a developer, defeating allegations raised by a purchaser relating to REDMA
  • Acted for a joint venture party in the recovery of a debt owed to it by the other joint venture party both at trial and in a subsequent appeal
  • Obtained injunctions in the following cases:
    • Against a property owner constructing a building alleged to be outside the design guidelines that were contractually agreed
    • Against a property owner seeking to evict a resident following a collapsed sale where the resident was seeking an order that the sale be completed in the litigation

Employment and Human Rights

• Advises clients on:
  • Duty to accommodate employees
  • Duty to inquire into a disability
  • Human rights issues arising on termination of employment
  • Severance pay, wrongful dismissal actions and constructive dismissal claims
  • Employment agreements
  • Harassment and discrimination claims (including on the basis of sex, mental or physical disability, religion or visible minority status)
  • Bullying and harassment claims
• Notable cases:
  • Obtained many dismissals of Human Rights claims through preliminary applications to dismiss on several bases, including:
    • No reasonable prospect the complaint will succeed
    • Complaint is barred by the limitations period
    • Complaint does not further the purposes of the Code
• Successfully refuted allegations of retaliation
• Defended an application to reopen complaint
• Acting for a complainant, successfully defended an employer’s application to dismiss the complaint
  • Following a lengthy hearing, obtained the dismissal of a claim involving numerous discrimination allegations made by a former employee against the former employer following its attempt to correct behavior through a disciplinary process
  • Successfully applied the “worker” bar to an injury claim made against a homeowner by a contractor

Insurance

• Defending insureds against a wide variety of claims including bodily injury and property damage claims arising from various incidents
• Acting on cases ranging from first party claims by home owners to third party liability to subrogated claims
• Advising on claims arising against strata corporations and their council members
• Defended a wrongful dismissal claim arising under wrongful employment practice provisions of an E&O policy

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Nicole chairs the Board of the Sharing Our Future Foundation which works in partnership with the Burnaby Association of Community Inclusion and develops funds and strategic resources in order to support the economic and social inclusion of people with disabilities.

HONOURS & AWARDS

Nicole has been recognized by Best Lawyers® in the area of Commercial Leasing Law for the 2021 – 2025 editions. Inclusion in this publication is based entirely on peer-review.