Canadian National Railway Co v Norsk Pacific Steamship Co, [1992] 1 SCR 1021 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on pure economic loss in tort law.

Their losses were purely economic (based on lost profits and increased operational costs), which were not generally recoverable in tort law.

Using the Anns test as adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada in Kamloops (City) v. Nielsen, she found that Norsk owed a duty of care to CN, making the loss recoverable.

She noted that the relationship between CN and PWC was such that the bridge could be considered a "joint" or "common venture" under which recovery for economic loss had been allowed in the United Kingdom.

In addition, LaForest J. argued that McLachlin's approach would create uncertainty in the law, as the plaintiffs could be an indeterminately large class and there is no way for the defendant to know who might be affected by damage caused by their tugboats.

In Bow Valley Husky (Bermuda) Ltd. v. Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., [1997] 3 SCR 1210, McLachlin clarified the result, affirming that recovery for contractual relational economic loss is the exception rather than the norm.

Full text of Supreme Court of Canada decision at LexUM and CanLII "Canadian National Railway Co v Norsk Pacific Steamship Co [1992] 1S.C.R.