Some high profile civil matters wound their way through the courts in 2014.
In May, a lawsuit brought against the city by Haldi Road area residents opposed to the development of the Northern Supportive Recovery Centre was dismissed.
The decision by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale ended a year-long court battle sparked when area resident Torre Pettersen filed a petition seeking to quash city council's decision to allow the 30-bed facility to be located in the old Haldi Road elementary school at 5877 Leslie Road.
At the time, Mayor Shari Green said the outcome left her relieved and added there is a need in the north for the facility, "so I am pleased that the applicant will be able to proceed with that.
"But at the same time I'm torn because I know it was divisive for many residents of the neighbourhood and they won't be happy with the outcome."
Also in May, a 70-year-old former businessman lost a round in his fight against the federal government's tax collector.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries fell short of awarding damages but did take Canada Revenue Agency to task for its treatment of Irvin Leroux.
Specifically, Humphries found CRA breached its duty of care in claiming Leroux deliberately made false statements on his income tax and then assessed hefty penalties that were eventually overturned.
However, she found there was insufficient evidence that the CRAs treatment led to his financial ruin.
Leroux has not given up. Aided by a crowd-funding campaign, he filed an appeal and has secured a new lawyer to argue his case. The counsel who represented him at the B.C. Supreme Court trial has since retired.
In November, a B.C. Supreme Court master issued a consent order handing over to the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office nine items of jewelry and about $20,000 in cash RCMP had seized from the now-slain gangster Joey Lamont Arrance. The value of the pieces added up to $193,256, according to the CFO. Arrance gained a large amount of infamy during his time in Prince George.
A handful of civil matters remain ongoing:
- Northern Development Trust's effort to foreclose on a loan to Commonwealth Campus Corp. remains before the courts as does Commonwealth's subsequent lawsuit against the BID Group of Companies over a deal gone wrong for the land adjacent to the Wood Innovation and Design Centre at Fourth and George.
- Habitat for Humanity Canada continues to go after assets claimed by the Prince George Hearts and Hands for Homes Society after the local group was disaffiliated from Habitat Canada.
- Kootenay resident Kevin Millership launched an action in March against the city over its practice of fluoridating the water supply, claiming it has been the cause of degenerative tooth disease dental fluorosis.
After he was unable to get the lawsuit designated as a class action, he is now pursuing a negligence claim and a constitutional challenge.
In December, council voted to end fluoridation by the end of 2014 in accordance with the outcome of a referendum on the issue.
- Prince George lumber manufacturer John Brink is also continuing his lawsuit against BCR Properties Ltd. over another land deal gone wrong.
Brink is alleging BCR acted fraudulently by trying to hide the true state of the land on which he had intended to build a new sawmill complex, a 100-acre site in the BCR industrial area where the old Netherlands sawmill once sat.
- In December, Michael O'Malley and Hans Suhr filed a petition seeking to have the Theatre North West Society's annual general meeting, held in August, overturned and to have a new 11-member board of directors by secret ballot.
