The court battle over a parking spot

The simple act of reassigning a parking space turned a Toronto condo building into the site of an all-out war of liens, lawsuits, arrests and a resident fleeing the property because she “no longer felt safe.”

“In this case, like so many others involving neighbours, a discrete issue was allowed to escalate out of hand,” wrote Ontario Superior Court Justice Frederick L. Myers in a recent decision wrapping up the years-long feud.

The occupants of 2 Ridelle Ave. took up “tactical positions, relentlessly “watched for weakness” in their opponents, engaged in “namecalling” and otherwise oversaw a “horrendous escalation of hostilities.”

The dispute began over an Audi with flat tires in parking space number 20.

Parking is apparently a tense subject at 2 Ridelle, a condo building with 44 units and only 32 parking spaces. Thus, a resident who noticed that the car was not being driven regularly alerted the building’s board of directors.

“Please be advised that … if you wish to retain the right to rent your parking space, you are required to bring the car into good repair, insured and with active plates,” read the relatively benign memo to resident Paula Couture.

If Couture didn’t get the car in order, read a subsequent letter, it would be towed to “allow other deserving residents” to take the spot.

Couture claimed that the spot had been hers for the past 24 years, and she retained “exclusive use of my parking spot” regardless of what was in it.

Lawyers were called, trenches were dug and the residents of 2 Ridelle Ave. began their odyssey of “taking extreme positions, wasting time, money and effort, and causing themselves and each other distress.”

To pay her maintenance fees, Couture kept cutting cheques that included her $50 a month rental fee for the disputed spot. The condo board refused to cash them and then placed liens on Couture’s unit as it went into arrears.

Police got involved several times over allegations that Couture’s husband was acting in an “abusive, harassing” manner toward other residents.

In the spring of 2014, Couture permanently moved to another apartment and left her condo vacant. Myers, however, rejected Couture’s claim of safety as a “self-serving bald statement.”

In her lawsuit against the condo board, Couture had sought a declaration that the condo board had wrongly taken away her parking spot, monetary damages and an injunction to forever bar the condo board from treating her in a “harassing, harsh, burdensome and/or unfair manner.”

Couture, however, won only the $15,623.05 she incurred as a result of the liens.

The judge said he expected neither side would be pleased with the outcome.