Cumberland BC: The Cumberlander Articles Section
Local · 28th January 2012
Zelda Wamzutta
"UBID Recovers $27,000 of Controversial Legal Fees" (in the Alan de Jersey et al v. Mary Reynolds case) was the headline story in the January 20th edition of The Comox Valley Echo.
See http://www2.canada.com/comoxvalleyecho/news/story.html?id=dea3b181-ad8d-4d3f-86cf-18b5efe4d497
After reading the Echo article, a neighbour raised the question, "Does anyone really know the total tally of how much of UBID public monies it has cost us in the end for this case?"
"A good question," I thought to myself. "$27,000 is a large chunk of change. But what's the bottom line of how much the defamation case filed by the previous Board has cost us?" I pondered.
The January 20th story penned by Philip Round was a very newsy article which gave some of latest information about UBID expenses for this costly legal case. Round broke the news of the recovery of $26,711.15 of a $50,000 retainer fee paid by the previous UBID Board to lawyers Ganapathi and Company.
However, not covered in the Philip Round story was the fact that the $50,000 retainer payment was not the only money paid out of UBID coffers to Ganapathi and Company. In fact, the $50,000 cheque was the last in a series of UBID payments to the law firm of Ganapathi and Company. And of course, there were other expenses for UBID such as for the current UBID Board to extricate itself as a Plaintiff since a government can't sue an individual for defamation according to legal precedent.
In other words, far more than $50,000 had been paid out by the previous UBID Board to sue Landowner Mary Reynolds for defamation!
Here is a breakdown of total legal expenses (according to UBID records):
To Ganapathi and Company - September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 - $20,988.47
To Ganapathi and Company - January 1, 2011 to February 23, 2011 - $47,236.42
To Ganapathi and Company - February 24, 2011 - April 30, 2011 - $50,000.00
For general legal expenses to recover money from Ganapathi and Company - May 1, 2011 - January 20, 2012 - $ 4,891.00
To Mary Reynolds - June 2011 (settlement payment to extricate UBID) - $15,000.00
Total: $138,115.89
If we were to subtract the recovered amount of $26,711.15, UBID is now out of pocket $111,404.74 for the defamation against Ms. Reynolds. Let's round it off to $111,400.00 for the amount we are in the hole.
Does anyone have any ideas of how we could have used that $111,400.00? It certainly could have built some kind of fire hall. Maybe not the Taj Mahal of fire halls. But I would imagine it could have paid for one of those quonset type buildings that would be adequate for a small community.
See http://www2.canada.com/comoxvalleyecho/news/story.html?id=dea3b181-ad8d-4d3f-86cf-18b5efe4d497
After reading the Echo article, a neighbour raised the question, "Does anyone really know the total tally of how much of UBID public monies it has cost us in the end for this case?"
"A good question," I thought to myself. "$27,000 is a large chunk of change. But what's the bottom line of how much the defamation case filed by the previous Board has cost us?" I pondered.
The January 20th story penned by Philip Round was a very newsy article which gave some of latest information about UBID expenses for this costly legal case. Round broke the news of the recovery of $26,711.15 of a $50,000 retainer fee paid by the previous UBID Board to lawyers Ganapathi and Company.
However, not covered in the Philip Round story was the fact that the $50,000 retainer payment was not the only money paid out of UBID coffers to Ganapathi and Company. In fact, the $50,000 cheque was the last in a series of UBID payments to the law firm of Ganapathi and Company. And of course, there were other expenses for UBID such as for the current UBID Board to extricate itself as a Plaintiff since a government can't sue an individual for defamation according to legal precedent.
In other words, far more than $50,000 had been paid out by the previous UBID Board to sue Landowner Mary Reynolds for defamation!
Here is a breakdown of total legal expenses (according to UBID records):
To Ganapathi and Company - September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 - $20,988.47
To Ganapathi and Company - January 1, 2011 to February 23, 2011 - $47,236.42
To Ganapathi and Company - February 24, 2011 - April 30, 2011 - $50,000.00
For general legal expenses to recover money from Ganapathi and Company - May 1, 2011 - January 20, 2012 - $ 4,891.00
To Mary Reynolds - June 2011 (settlement payment to extricate UBID) - $15,000.00
Total: $138,115.89
If we were to subtract the recovered amount of $26,711.15, UBID is now out of pocket $111,404.74 for the defamation against Ms. Reynolds. Let's round it off to $111,400.00 for the amount we are in the hole.
Does anyone have any ideas of how we could have used that $111,400.00? It certainly could have built some kind of fire hall. Maybe not the Taj Mahal of fire halls. But I would imagine it could have paid for one of those quonset type buildings that would be adequate for a small community.
improper legal fees
Comment by Tio on 22nd February 2012
The outrageous legal fees on behalf of some of the UBID Board (now former Board) is just another example of the conflict of interests and nepotism that had run rampant in Union Bay. Unfortunately the citizens of Union Bay will have to foot the bill most of that activity. Any intelligent and knowledgeable attorney would have known that there was no basis for UBID or its trustees to file a suit against a citizen for exercising her right of free speech. Even though some of the fees have been recovered the citizens will pay the bulk. Shame on that attorney and the UBID trustees and employees that participated in the improper suit against Mary Reynolds.
The outrageous legal fees on behalf of some of the UBID Board (now former Board) is just another example of the conflict of interests and nepotism that had run rampant in Union Bay. Unfortunately the citizens of Union Bay will have to foot the bill most of that activity. Any intelligent and knowledgeable attorney would have known that there was no basis for UBID or its trustees to file a suit against a citizen for exercising her right of free speech. Even though some of the fees have been recovered the citizens will pay the bulk. Shame on that attorney and the UBID trustees and employees that participated in the improper suit against Mary Reynolds.