County pulling out all stops to try and collect $5,000 from AWARE Simcoe, acting as agent for developer
Simcoe County, second in a line of two behind Tecumseth Estates in the order of who gets paid their court ordered costs imposed against AWARE Simcoe, first, is pursing an aggressive collection strategy by conducting an “Examination in Aid of Execution” to “determine the level of assets currently maintained by AWARE Simcoe,” County lawyer Marshall Green told Free Press Online.
Last November, AWARE Simcoe was ordered to pay $27,000 in fixed costs to Tecumseth Estates (Rizzardo) and $5,000 to the County, after its application for an interim injunction to suspend the special permit the County issued to the Previn Court Homes builder, failed. The action was to halt any further clear cutting of approximately 35 acres of forest on its 9th Line property in Beeton pending a Judicial Review application into the approvals process that granted the permit in the first place.
Mr. Green, who at the time of the court action, was still the County’s lawyer through his private practice, but has since been hired by the County as a senior member of the upper tier’s new legal department. He is scheduled to lead the examination. Additionally, he will act as “Agent” for the Tecumseth Estates.
“The current steps being taken to collect legal costs awarded to the County of Simcoe by Justice Eberhard from AWARE Simcoe follows standard collection proceedings, and is being executed by staff at the direction of County Council,” Mr. Green told Free Press Online. “It is a common practice when there are multiple creditors of a party, that one of the lawyers for one of the parties undertakes an examination in aid of execution on behalf of all of them. The information is then shared, and joint decisions can be made as to future collection efforts. This is what is happening here. I will conduct the examination, as I was directed by Council to do, and I will share the information that I receive, with the lawyer for Tecumseth Estates. …. Tecumseth Estates would maintain their order of priority in the collection process should all parties proceed.”
Mr. Green did not quantify how much money it would cost the County to collect the $5,000 from AWARE Simcoe because he’s no longer billing the County by the hour.
“Since I am a salaried employee of the County there will obviously be no additional cost to the County for my time. The court reporter who will record the examination charges a fee. Besides his/her hourly fee there would be a fee if we ordered a transcript. Transcripts of these examinations are rarely ordered,” he told Free Press Online. “It is important to note that these steps to recover and collect legal costs are a result of a judicial review which was initiated and launched by AWARE Simcoe. This is a common and standard process for any party entering into a legal proceeding and thus a risk that AWARE Simcoe accepts in launching this legal action, and would have been so advised by their legal counsel.”
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