Contractor Jim Daisley has got a court order that means he can apply to sell Whangārei District Council’s Forum North headquarters to recoup $6.1 million the council owes him following earlier High Court judgements.
Contractor Jim Daisley has got a court order that means he can apply to sell Whangārei District Council’s Forum North headquarters to recoup $6.1 million the council owes him following earlier High Court judgements.
A contractor plans to apply to the High Court to sell Whangārei District Council’s Forum North headquarters in order to pay the $6.1 million debt owed to him by the council.
Earlier this year, Jimmy Daisley won two High Court judgements against the district council over a wrongly filed resourceconsent the council used to pursue him over his quarry, which led to a 17 year battle for justice.
The council has appealed the judgement, but Daisley has been back to the High Court and has successfully applied for a charging order on the 2.387 hectares of land Forum North sits on, in Rust Ave.
In the judgement, the court told the council that “its estate, right, title or interest in possession, remainder, reversion or expectancy (whether vested or contingent in) (the land) is charged with payment of the amount for which the entitled party, Malcolm James Daisley, has obtained judgement. The amount charged is $6,184,555.70.”
The figure includes the initial judgement of $4,229,622; interest as at June 10 this year, or $1,444,444.20 and costs (as of July 14) of $510,489.59; plus the $917 costs of obtaining the order.
The charging order means Daisley can apply to the court to sell the land so his bill can be paid. He exclusively told the Advocate that’s what he intends to do today.
“I’ve had enough. This has dragged on for 17 years, and despite two High Court judgements against them, the council still won’t pay up,” Daisley said.
“This has been hell for me, and it’s about time the council put an end to it by paying up as they have been ordered to do.”
WDC acknowledged that Daisley won his case against the council in the High Court and was awarded substantial damages.
A council spokesperson said an appeal and an application to stay the enforcement of the judgment have been filed by the council.
“Council and Daisley have been negotiating for some time to find a compromise position that balances Daisley’s right to be paid the award of damages, the council’s risk of not being paid back if it wins on appeal and avoids further action in relation to council property.”
Daisley operated a quarry on a property in Knight Rd, Ruatangata, after buying it from the previous owner in December 2004.
The property had been used for quarrying for several decades beforehand and the quarry operations had not been challenged, disputed or prohibited at any time. Daisley had big plans to not only extract metal for use in his contracting business, Daisley Contracting, but to sell quarried minerals to local farmers and other contractors.
Whangārei District Council’s Forum North headquarters could be sold to pay a $6.1 million court-ordered debt the council owes to contractor Jim Daisley.
However, WDC issued an abatement notice that directed the quarrying operation to cease in February 2005, only seven weeks after he bought the property. The notice said he needed to get a resource consent issued to carry out quarrying at the property. The council threatened enforcement action if he did not.
The council said the reasons for the abatement notice included the assertion that the removal of material at the property was neither expressly allowed by a resource consent or an existing use right.
Daisley fought to challenge the decision and get the council to admit it was wrong to close him down.
His fight - which he admits nearly broke him and caused major financial problems, as well as others - saw a High Court judge in June award him $4,279,622, plus interest and costs, after the court found the council liable in negligence over not being able to find the consent despite it being on council records.
In July, in scathing comments from the High Court, Justice Kit Toogood described a separate peg of the council’s defence in the case as the result of a “deeply flawed analysis”.
He ordered the council to pay Daisley increased legal costs of $510,000 because of its flawed defence.
That same month, the council filed an appeal over the judgment which ordered it pay Daisley $5.7m. A date for that appeal has yet to be set.
Daisley said after the lengthy battle and two High Court judgements emphatically in his favour, the council should front up with his money.
‘’I’m not happy. I’ll be in the court on Monday to apply to sell the [Forum North] property to get the money I’m owed. The council tried to bankrupt me over a $16,000 dollar debt I owed them. If I owed them $6 million, I’m sure they would do everything to get the money off me, so now it’s their turn to pay the money they owe,’’ he said.
