Civil engineering expertise for claims and litigation
Independent, documented and defensible technical analysis.
Adiva Infra provides civil engineering expertise in claims, disputes and court proceedings. Our work focuses on municipal and road infrastructure, water management and damage caused by construction.
We work with lawyers, insurers, property owners, contractors and municipalities, for plaintiffs and defendants alike. Depending on the file, we prepare a preliminary technical opinion, an expert report or a rebuttal report, and support the later stages of the proceedings.
Based in Montréal, we work everywhere in Québec.
Conflict check within 24 hours · Reports and testimony in English and French · Across Québec
Our main areas of practice
The questions we examine most often. The list is not exhaustive.
Sewer backups, flooding and water management
We analyze the possible causes of a sewer backup, basement flooding or water accumulation: capacity of the municipal network, configuration of the private service connection, foundation drain and backwater valve, sizing of structures, operating conditions and maintenance.
The analysis may include a review of drawings and installations, hydraulic modelling and an assessment of compliance with good engineering practice. It aims to identify the mechanisms involved and the technical contribution of each structure and intervention.
These mandates may arise in claims against a municipality, a contractor or a designer, in insurers’ subrogated claims, or in class actions.
Property damage caused by construction
We examine damage attributed to nearby construction: cracks, settlement and subsidence, vibrations, excavation, dewatering, broken service connections.
The analysis relies on plans and specifications, site logs, vibration monitoring data, CCTV inspections and the chronology of events. We assess the hypotheses that could explain the damage, and what establishes or rules out a technical link with the work.
Disputes over design and construction
We work on files involving a contractor, an owner or a designer: plans and specifications, differing site conditions, changes in scope, execution and supervision of the work.
Our work addresses the technical questions. It can complement the work of experts assessing the amounts claimed or analyzing delays.
We also examine files involving retaining walls, slopes, water mains, pavements, culverts and stormwater retention structures.
Mandate formats suited to the file
Preliminary technical opinion
A first analysis to assess the technical merits of the file, identify the hypotheses to examine and determine the investigations or expert work required. The opinion states the limits of the available information and, where relevant, proposes the scope and budget of the next steps.
Format: a three-to-five-page opinion, fixed fee, delivered within ten business days of receiving the complete file and visiting the site.
Expert report
A documented analysis: review of the relevant documents, inspections and verifications provided for in the mandate, assessment of the hypotheses and a reasoned technical opinion. The report sets out the mandate, methodology, facts relied on, analysis, limitations and conclusions. It is written to be understood by readers who are not engineers.
Critical review and rebuttal report
An independent review of an existing report: data, methods, assumptions, calculations and conclusions. We separate what is supported from what is not, identify methodological limitations and the additional verifications required. Depending on the mandate, this includes a rebuttal report or questions for the cross-examination of the opposing expert.
Joint expert
Danny El-Nemr can act as a joint expert, appointed jointly by the parties or by the court, within the agreed scope.
Litigation support and testimony
Preparation for examinations, participation in expert meetings and testimony in court. The scope is defined with you at the start of the mandate, or as the file evolves.
The expert
Danny El-Nemr, Eng.
Civil engineer · President and project director, Adiva Infra
A graduate of Polytechnique Montréal, Danny El-Nemr is a civil engineer and has been a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec since 2019 (no. 5095080).
He has spent ten years on municipal and road infrastructure. He started in construction supervision, then served as assistant project director at the Ville de Montréal’s road network infrastructure department (Service des infrastructures du réseau routier). He was then team lead for municipal and road infrastructure at IGF Axiom, before founding Adiva Infra. He has worked on about a hundred projects totalling more than $280 million in construction. This path, from the site to design, allows him to examine the links between design choices, construction conditions and the behaviour of structures.
He remains active in design, review and construction follow-up: his expert work rests on daily practice and on the firm’s tools (hydraulic modelling, surveys and technical drafting).
He prepares expert and rebuttal reports, preliminary opinions and litigation support mandates. He works on files before the Superior Court of Québec and testified as an expert before the Court of Québec, Small Claims Division, in 2026.
Specialized training: culvert design, hydraulic modelling, management of municipal construction projects.
Reports and testimony in English and French.
Representative mandates
Real mandates, described in general terms to protect confidentiality: no location, no parties.
Damage to a building near municipal works
Expert report · 2025–2026
Structural damage and sanitary backups attributed to work on adjacent underground infrastructure.
Review of plans and specifications, vibration monitoring data, CCTV inspections and court documents; building inspection; reconstruction of the chronology and assessment of competing hypotheses.
Expert report delivered.
Performance of stormwater management structures
Expert report · 2025–2026
Recurring water accumulation on an industrial site, despite the alleged compliance of the structures.
Review of plans and specifications, inspection, hydraulic analysis, verification of sizing and capacity. Examination of possible causes related to design, construction and maintenance, distinguishing theoretical performance from observed behaviour.
Expert report delivered.
Collapse of a residential retaining wall
Rebuttal report · 2025–2026
Dispute between neighbours over the failure of a retaining wall.
Analysis of the site configuration and the evolution of the structures from historical photographs; critical review of the existing report; examination of possible failure mechanisms, drainage and interactions between structures.
Rebuttal report delivered.
A documented process
Initial review and definition of the mandate.
We clarify the technical questions, available documents, required verifications, deliverables, schedule and fees.
Document review.
We examine the relevant documents: plans, specifications, contracts, reports, photographs, site logs, undertakings and examination transcripts.
Inspection and investigations.
We document the observed conditions. Surveys, tests and further investigations are defined according to the needs of the file.
Technical analysis.
We formulate the hypotheses, carry out the necessary verifications and examine competing explanations.
Report.
A preliminary version may be sent to you to check the accuracy of the facts and the clarity of the text; the conclusions remain the expert’s own. The final report is then signed and sealed. Observations, reported information and conclusions are clearly distinguished.
Support for the next steps.
Depending on the mandate, we take part in expert discussions, preparation for examinations and testimony.
Every report states its limitations: missing documents, elements not observed or measured, assumptions made, and investigations that could refine the conclusions.
Independence and conflicts of interest
The expert’s opinion rests on the facts and the technical analysis. No conclusion is agreed in advance. As provided by the Code of Civil Procedure (article 22), the expert’s mission is to enlighten the court, objectively, impartially and thoroughly, and it overrides the parties’ interests. Every report intended for the court is accompanied by the expert’s signed declaration.
We complete a conflict check within twenty-four hours of receiving the necessary information on the parties and the file.
Danny El-Nemr does not act for or against an active municipal client of Adiva Infra, meaning a municipality with a contract in progress or completed less than twenty-four months ago. Nor does he act against a firm with which Adiva Infra has a mandate in progress. The list of municipal clients is available on request for this check.
Frequently asked questions
When should I bring in a civil engineering expert?
As early as possible, ideally before the site is repaired, cleaned up or backfilled: a replaced pipe, a rebuilt wall or a renovated basement can no longer be inspected. A preliminary opinion also lets you gauge the technical merits of a file before investing further. Your lawyer will advise you on legal notices and deadlines.
What should I send for a first discussion?
A short description of the situation, the location, the names of the parties and the stage of the file. Please send no documents until we have confirmed there is no conflict of interest.
Do you act for plaintiffs or defendants?
Both: for property owners, insurers (including subrogated claims), contractors, designers, and municipalities and their insurers, subject to the conflict check.
Can you act as a joint expert?
Yes. Danny El-Nemr can be appointed jointly by the parties or by the court, within the agreed scope.
Do your reports meet the requirements of the Code of Civil Procedure?
Yes. They are written in keeping with the mission the Code gives the expert: to enlighten the court objectively, impartially and thoroughly. They are accompanied by the expert’s signed declaration and distinguish observed facts, reported information and conclusions.
Do you assess the amounts claimed or delays?
No. We address the technical questions: causes, mechanisms, compliance with good practice, technical link between an intervention and damage. We work alongside the cost or delay experts already on the file.
Do you write reports and testify in English?
Yes. Reports and testimony are available in English and French.
Where do you work?
Everywhere in Québec. We are based in Montréal, and site visits take place wherever the structure is.
Discuss a file
A first thirty-minute discussion, free of charge, clarifies the technical question, the available documents and the type of mandate to consider.
Send us a short description of the situation, the location and the names of the parties for the conflict check. Please send no documents before our confirmation.
Technical opinions and certificates
We also prepare reports for permit applications, engineer’s certificates, technical notes and preliminary assessments of structures.