A partial judgment in the lawsuit filed by Sechelt Golf and Country Club (SGCC) Ltd. against the District of Sechelt has come in with Mayor John Henderson saying the District was lawfully entitled to terminate the leases with SGCC Ltd. when they took over control of the golf course on Jan. 9.
The breaches the judge identified are that some amount of rent was due, that SGCC failed to obtain the District's consent to registering a mortgage on the property and that SGCC had failed to provide audited financial statements to the district, Henderson wrote in an update on the District's website.
The update goes on to say the judge, after receiving more information, will consider if SGCC should be entitled to resume operation of the golf course.
In particular, he has asked SGCC to comment on or before July 6 about how they intend to remedy the various breaches he has determined occurred, Henderson wrote.
Brian Hall, controlling shareholder of SGCC Ltd., contends the mayor's message is a misleading report to the people of Sechelt.
He said the judge ruled that approximately $160,000 of the $191,000 in lease fees allegedly owed to the District was unfounded.
He also said it was the calculation of the fees by the District that led to an acrimonious situation where the District was threatening to terminate the leases.
This debate led to other issues being raised, particularly that the people my wife Pat and I agreed to sell our interests to made it difficult to comply with the leases, Hall said. The purchasers did not pay 2010 rent, and SGCC made no denial of that at court. The debate over 2010 rent, as yet unresolved, was over the District's calculation of it.
He said the issues remaining to be talked about in court involve unpaid rent for 2010, a mortgage registered by the purchasers, the provision of audited financial statements and the issue of whether and upon what terms the leases should be reinstated.
The point is that the fundamental issue was the unfounded claim of the District of Sechelt for rent. The judge has determined that this claim was without merit, Hall said.
Henderson said the judge in the case expects to give his decision about whether SGCC Ltd. can resume control of the operation of the golf course sometime in mid-July.
If he determines that SGCC is entitled to resume control of the operations, the court registrar will decide how to implement this and how much SGCC will need to pay to the District for our costs of operating the golf course over these past months, Henderson wrote in the update.
He told Coast Reporter this week that about $125,000 has been spent to operate the golf course since January and more than that has been spent on legal fees.
Probably a bit more than $125,000 on legal fees lawyers, they don't necessarily bill you. So the last ones that I saw, I can't remember if that included April hours or May hours, so I don't want to mislead anybody. It's probably more, but I wouldn't begin to know how much, Henderson said. We'll provide a summary at the end when the numbers are real rather than best guesses and estimates.
