.jpg;w=960)
The province has been ordered to pay Seawatch property owners Carole Rosewall and Gregory and Geraldine Latham double legal costs incurred on a dispute regarding the state of emergency that evicted them from their homes. The decision was rendered by BC Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Gomery on March 1, in court chambers in Vancouver.
While the owners had sought double costs from when they started their actions in 2019, Gomery limited the higher award to costs incurred after Nov 20, 2021. That was the date when he awarded the homeowners costs in a judgment of nuisance against the province for its continued renewal of the District of Sechelt’s state of local emergency (SOLE) past May 17, 2019. The SOLE closed public access to the Seawatch subdivision as of Feb. 15, 2019 due to safety concerns related to sinkholes and subsurface instability.
In his most recent reasons for judgment in the matter, Gomery noted that the homeowners had twice offered to discontinue their claims against the province, and that those offers were not accepted. In the second instance, which occurred two days before the November trial, the homeowners offered to discontinue their actions in exchange for a waiver of costs. The parties could not agree on the form of the waiver. At the province’s insistence, the dispute moved to a trial.
“BC took a substantial and needless risk in rejecting the (second) offer. The trial should not have been necessary,” Gomery’s decision, released on March 18, reads.
The SOLE expired on Feb. 12, 2022, after the province declined to process a renewal requested by Sechelt. Public access to the subdivision remains closed. Owners of affected properties have been offered keys to the gate of the security fencing that surrounds the subdivision by the municipality. Sechelt continues to maintain that the area is unsafe for human occupation. Its website states “Sinkholes can appear suddenly and without warning and can create a risk of serious physical injury or death. This area is not expected to be serviced by police, ambulance, or other emergency responders.”
Rosewall and the Latham’s originally filed court action against both the province and Sechelt. They withdrew their claim against Sechelt in 2021, after the BC Court of Appeal dismissed nuisance claims filed by other Seawatch owners, ruling that the restrictive covenant filed by the municipality on the titles of the subdivision property protected it against such claims.
Those owners have applied to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. No decision on that application has been made. Other court actions brought by the subdivision property owners against Sechelt and other parties remain outstanding.
No details on the value of the costs involved in the award to either Rosewall or the Latham’s was available at press time.
When contacted by Coast Reporter regarding the most recent Court decision on the matter, Sechelt declined to provide comment, as of March 21, stating in an email that “we will be happy to comment once the litigation concludes.”
