Lawsuit against 3 ex-councillors dropped

Libel action by Lantzville mayor, 2 councillors a ‘financial burden’

A libel suit filed against three former Lantzville council members has been dropped by the mayor of that community and two councillors.

Lantzville Mayor Colin Haime and councillors Denise Haime and John Coulson discontinued their lawsuit this week.

They originally filed their libel action on March 24, 2017, in the Supreme Court of B.C. against former councillors Jennifer Millbank, Graham Savage and Dave Scott.

Millbank said Friday: “I am glad they have discontinued it. It should never have been started in the first place and I think it is time that everyone moved on.”

Scott said, “There was no basis to the allegation.”

He likened the suit to a “cloud always hanging over you. Basically, your integrity has been challenged.”

Scott said he will continue volunteer work in the community, but has no plans to return to politics.

The defendents’ legal costs are being covered by the municipality of Lantzville under its indemnity bylaw. The amount to date was not available on Friday.

In an interview, the mayor said: “We believe we were in the right and we believe we were going to win.”

The trial had been expected to run for nine days. Estimated costs to the two Haimes and Coulson for the trial was $50,000, the three said in a joint statement.

“Based on public statements and due to Lanztville council’s indemnification of the defendents, the Lantzville residents could incur costs five times greater than our costs,” the statement said.

The three said they did not want to subject Lantzville residents to a significant financial burden. “For this reason, we have chosen to discontinue the lawsuit at this time.”

The lawsuit involved disputes over comments made about municipal decisions, the state of the work environment at town hall, and whether in-camera information had been released without permission.

Lantzville is a community of about 3,800, about 16 kilometres north of Nanaimo

The lawsuit had its basis in rancorous relations among city council members in the wake of the 2014 municipal election. It culminated in four council members quitting council in spring 2015.

When that happened, the province moved in to decide that the remaining three council members — the mayor and two councillors — were allowed to meet and make decisions temporarily. August 2015 byelections filled the empty council seats.

About the same time the councillors resigned, three senior municipal staff members left their jobs as well.