Judge orders unsuccessful Parker Lands developer to pay $800K in court costs

A judge has ordered a developer to pay $800,000 in court costs in the legal battle over a housing project on the Parker Lands.

In April, the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned an order from a Court of King’s Bench justice directing the city to pay $5 million in damages over a ruling that two city employees deliberately stalled Gem Equities’ Fulton Grove housing development on the former Parker lands.

The city appealed the July 2023 ruling, which had found two city employees — former chief planner Braden Smith and senior city planner Michael Robinson — liable for “misfeasance in public office.”

The Manitoba Court of Appeal found in April the King’s Bench justice made “palpable and overriding errors in certain findings of fact” and that the evidence fell short of establishing “deliberate and unlawful conduct” in the 2023 ruling.

The parties could not agree on court costs out of the appeal, so it went to another hearing in the King’s Bench in front of Justice Shauna McCarthy.

McCarthy ruled earlier this month that she would set costs at $800,000.

The city has indicated it has covered the legal expenses of the individual defendants, four city employees.

“This award is intended to take into account the fees actually incurred relative to one another, and compensation for expenses incurred with respect to all pre-trial motions,” McCarthy wrote in her Dec. 8 ruling.

The city filed a motion ahead of the costs hearing requesting an order of costs against developer Andrew Marquess personally, which McCarthy dismissed.

Marquess’s lawyers filed an application to the Supreme Court of Canada in June, seeking permission to appeal the matter to the country’s highest court. That application is still pending.

The developer’s lawyers argued the payment of costs should be delayed until after the Supreme Court appeal application is decided. McCarthy disagreed and ordered the money be paid within 45 days, or interest would begin accruing.

She found there should be no reason for concern about reimbursement with “an institutional payee” such as the city, if the cost order is later overturned or varied by the Supreme Court.

The development project on the Parker Lands planned to create about 1,900 housing units on 47 acres of land surrounded by CN Railway Rivers line and the southwest rapid transitway.

Marquess alleged city officials had abused their positions by stalling progress on the development for years, which the city denied.

City officials said in April this year that the Appeal Court’s ruling exonerated city staff.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca