Trial not proceeding in $15-million lawsuit
Settlement said to be in works for civil suit on former GM property
A $15-million lawsuit involving the former GM plant may be coming to an end.
A trial scheduled to start on Sept. 28 between Attar Metals Inc. and Bayshore, which owns the partially demolished industrial property at 282-285 Ontario St., has been called off.
The civil trial office in Toronto’s Superior Court of Justice said the trial is not proceeding due to a settlement and the lawyers are working on terms.
Mississauga-based Attar Metals Inc. launched a suit in May 2017 against Bayshore Groups, Bayshore International, 2390541 and 2202180 Ontario Ltd. and Bayshore principals Chiara and Robert Megna.
The metal recycler alleged in court documents that Bayshore didn’t honour a contract made in October 2014 involving work at the 54.7-acre former GM property.
Attar claimed in its lawsuit that it was supposed to get 50 per cent of revenues generated from the sale of all metals at the plant, as well as proceeds of sale from all other assets and real estate on site.
It also said it acquired exclusive
rights to market, sell and collect revenue from materials in exchange for a $2-million payment for property rights and $625,000 for marketing rights.
But it alleged that Bayshore secretly sold off assets and mortgaged the property, less than a month after the contract was executed, in the amount of $5 million and then mortgaged it again in March 2017 for $20 million.
Bayshore denied all allegations and launched a counter suit.
In early 2019, the Superior Court judge presiding over the matter in Toronto’s commercial court ordered the mortgagee, 2496582 Ontario Inc. to become a defendant in the civil case.
A lawyer for Attar Metals would not comment Wednesday, other than to confirm the trial is not going forward as scheduled. Lawyers for Bayshore Groups and the mortgagee did not respond to calls and emails.
The site of the former GM plant has been listed for sale since March 2019.
Its environmental impact has been a subject of concern by neighbours and the group Coalition for a Better St. Catharines, which has argued the city and upper levels of government need to stop toxic chemical runoff from the site from entering Twelve Mile Creek.
The Ontario Street property was sold by GM to Bayshore in June 2014 for $12.5 million.