Ryan Krushelnitzky
Ryan Krushelnitzky
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Ryan Krushelnitzky is a litigation and arbitration lawyer. Ryan’s practice focuses on complex disputes involving construction law and product liability law. With a Ph.D. in civil engineering, his background assists him in dealing with the practical and technical issues his construction and product manufacturer clients face.

Ryan has been recognized in the construction law and product liability law areas of practice in The Best Lawyers™ in Canada. Recognition in Best Lawyers™ is based on peer reviews of leading lawyers and their professional abilities.

Ryan was a Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, working for the Honourable Justice Marshall Rothstein. Clerking at Canada’s highest Court gave him a unique insight into the judicial decision-making process.

Ryan’s practice is concentrated around construction law and complex contractual disputes. Ryan regularly represents construction contractors and subcontractors. He has acted on contractual disputes over progress and payment, delays, lost productivity, builders' and construction liens, construction deficiencies, tendering, and insurance/bonding. Ryan also assists his clients with contract review and general advice on construction-related matters. He has experience with industrial, infrastructure, pipeline, module, tunnelling, earthworks, civil, and commercial construction-related projects.

Ryan’s practice is also focused on product liability litigation. He acts for product manufacturers and distributors involved in product liability disputes. Ryan has experience dealing with breach of warranty and negligence claims relating to allegedly defective industrial and construction equipment, farming equipment, building systems, motor vehicles, building materials and various consumer goods. He also has experience with fire losses, and other product liability matters, such as personal injury losses. He also provides advice regarding the cross-border and jurisdictional issues that often arise when international manufacturers do business in Alberta.

Ryan has appeared before the Alberta Court of Justice (Provincial Court), the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the King’s Bench for Saskatchewan, the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba, as well as ad hoc and ICC arbitration panels. He has experience in both domestic and international arbitrations, as well as appeared as counsel in a week-long fully virtual trial. Representative matters that Ryan has acted on include:

  • Counsel for a major international EPC contractor involved in an oil sands module construction dispute resolved by way of an ad hoc commercial arbitration with a month-long merits hearing
  • Counsel for a major international EPC contractor involved in a wrongful termination dispute with an oil sands owner for an industrial site services contract
  • Counsel for a major international EPC contractor involved in a wrongful termination dispute involving a furnace upgrade at an ethylene plant
  • Representing a US-based engineering, fabrication, construction and maintenance contractor involved in a dispute with an oil sands producer over payment and delays
  • Counsel for a major Canadian construction and building services company involved in a dispute over the construction of a petrochemical facility that proceeded to a 3-week merits hearing as part of an ICC arbitration
  • Counsel for a major Canadian construction and building service company involved in a dispute over an infrastructure project that proceeded to a week-long merits hearing as part of an ad hoc commercial arbitration
  • Counsel defending a manufacturer in a 3-week King’s Bench product liability trial and,
  • Counsel for a major farm implement manufacturer on a number of product liability related lawsuits.

Outside the Office

Ryan is a Term Lecturer teaching law to engineering students at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Engineering.

Defence Research Institute
Member
2012 - Present
Canadian Bar Association, Insurance Law Section (North)
Member
2011 - Present
Canadian Bar Association
Member
2010 - Present
Law Society of Alberta
Member
2010 - Present
Canadian Bar Association Alberta, Civil Litigation Section (North)
Member
2009 - Present
Canadian Bar Association Alberta, Construction Law Section (North)
Member
2009 - Present
Listed Product Liability Law
The Best Lawyers™ in Canada
2022 - 2023
Listed Construction Law
The Best Lawyers™ in Canada
2021 - 2023
The Alberta Law Review, William Morrow Essay Contest, 2nd Prize
2009
Alberta Crown Attorneys Association Prize in Criminal Procedure
2009
The Carswell Prize in Law
2009
George Bligh O'Connor Silver Medal in Law for graduating with 2nd highest standing
University of Alberta Faculty of Law
2009
Jason Lang Scholarship
2008
Alberta Law Foundation Scholarship
2008
Louise McKinney Post-Secondary Scholarship
2007
Blake, Cassels & Graydon Scholarship
2007
Chief Justice S. Bruce Smith Prize for the highest standing in 1st year law
2007
Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology
2005
Canadian Geotechnical Society Undergraduate Student Report Award, 2nd Prize
2004
Canadian Geotechnical Society Graduate Student Presentation Award, 2nd Prize
2004
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Canadian Graduate Scholarship  
2003 - 2005
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada PGS-A Scholarship
2001 - 2003
The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering- Edmonton and Northern Alberta Section-R.L. Gerard Student Paper Competition- 1st Prize
2000
Pro Bono Law Alberta
Small Claims Duty Counsel
2012 - Present
Precision Forest Industries Ltd v Cox, 2023 ABKB 3
PME Inc v Enerkem Alberta Biofuels LP (Enerkem Alberta Biofuels GP Inc), 2021 ABQB 889
Twin Creek Dairy Ltd. v. CNH Industrial Canada, Ltd., 2021 SKQB 57
Engen v Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., 2021 ABQB 740
County of Vulcan v. Genesis Reciprocal Insurance Exchange, 2020 ABQB 93
Kowalchuk v Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., 2018 ABQB 421
KBR Industrial Canada Co v Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions Canada LP, 2018 ABQB 257
Alberta Motor Association Insurance Company v Aspen Insurance UK Limited, 2018 ABQB 207
Toews v First Choice Canada Inc (Signature Vacations), 2016 ABQB 130
January 2023 - 3 min read
Alberta Court Finds Defendant Breached 2003 Agreement to Sell Land
The Lawyer's Daily
September 27, 2021
Prompt Payment Legislation: The Impact on the Alberta Construction Industry
Webinar
While the Alberta Builders’ Lien Act has been in force and essentially unchanged for several decades, it will soon evolve with the enactment of the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act. This new legislation will introduce significant changes ...
July 2020 - 4 min read
Upcoming Clarifications to Contractual Good Faith
Last December, the Supreme Court of Canada heard two appeals concerning contractual good faith issues. The first involved an appeal of the British Columbia decision Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District v. Wastech Services Ltd., 2019 BC...
May 2020
Expiration of Limitation Period not a Defence for Surety Under Bond Claim
The Lawyer's Daily
April 2020
Uncertain Surety: Expiration of a Limitation Against a Principal is not a Defence to a Bond Claim
Sometimes failing to arbitrate a dispute with a binding arbitration provision can be fatal to a claim under a construction contract, particularly if the limitation period to commence the arbitration has expired.  But, in the ca...
April 2, 2020
Business Interruption Claims Due to COVID-19
As a result of COVID-19, countless businesses have been forced to temporarily shut their doors or change the way they operate significantly. As a direct result, many businesses have lost and continue to lose income. More and more businesses will be loo...
March 2020
COVID-19 and Construction Contract Performance: Frustration When you Don't Have a Force Majeure Clause
The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely have many parties looking at their ongoing and future contractual obligations. In the construction context, many contracts will include a force majeure provision outlining what happens when contr...
March 10-11, 2020
12th Annual Managing Risk in Construction Contracts and Projects
Conferences
Speaker
July 2018
Consequential Consequences: Contractually Excluding Damages for Lost Profits
Clauses that exclude or limit the recovery of consequential or indirect damages are common in construction, services and other commercial contracts. These clauses can play an important role in risk allocation.  This is particularly so in situation...
January 2018
Contractor Know Thyself: If You Don’t, You May Lose Your Lien
Builders' liens are "creatures of statute". A builders' lien is a new right created by lien legislation that would not otherwise exist at common law.  As such, a lien claimant must bring itself strictly within the statutory frame...
January 2018
Fatal Errors: The Small Mistakes That Can Have a Big Impact On Your Lien Claim
The scenario is a fairly common one: a contractor doesn’t get paid, and then proceeds to register a lien on a project, only to later discover a mistake in the Statement of Lien. It could be a typo in the name of the Owner; or it could be a failur...
December 2017
Termination Problems: When Can You Walk Away From a Contract?
Construction projects don’t always go as planned. Delays, add-ons, and changes to plans are common. Parties can sue when losses occur. When this happens, the contract itself is the key guide to the parties’ obligations.However, sometimes th...
September 2016
Ledcor: Taming Sattva’s Wild Horse of Contractual Interpretation for Standard Form Contracts
The Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous decision of Sattva v. Capital Corp. v. Creston Moly Corp., 2014 SCC 53 opened the barn door and let loose a wild horse in terms of the scope and the availability of the use of the surrou...
July 2015
Thou Shalt Not Deceive: The New Commandment for Canadian Business
In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered two decisions relating to the law of contract. Parties doing business in Canada should be aware of these decisions because they have significantly changed how contracts are to be perform...
Education
University of Alberta, 2009, Bachelor of Laws
Queen's University, 2006, Doctor of Philosophy
University of Alberta, 2001, Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering
Admissions
Alberta,2010