March 6, 2015
Prince Edward Island

Judge throws out wind farm lawsuit

Ryan Ross | The Guardian | Published on March 06, 2015 | www.theguardian.pe.ca

A P.E.I. Supreme Court judge has thrown out an attempt by two women to sue the P.E.I. government and other parties involved in the Hermanvile wind farm.

In his Feb. 27 decision, Justice Ben Taylor ruled Julie Shore and Arla Johnson failed to provide the basic facts necessary for a claim.

Shore and Johnson named the P.E.I. government, Frontier Energy System Inc., AMEC America Limited as defendants in what they called a “civil complaint.”

The plaintiffs own two businesses in Hermanville and made several allegations against the defendants, including that Hermanville should never have been considered for the project.

Their allegations included that the project was unlawful because the plaintiffs and the community of Hermanville weren’t given the necessary time to collect data needed for residents to make an informed decision.

Shore and Johnson also alleged the government conspired with the other defendants to circumvent and violate Canadian law in order to deprive the community and its members of their rights and cause them harm.

The plaintiffs sought $6 million in damages.

In his ruling, Taylor said Shore and Johnson’s decision to bring a complex $6 million lawsuit against multiple parties without a lawyer was “incredibly rash.”

Taylor said the plaintiffs didn’t follow basic rules in drafting their statement of claim, including not numbering paragraphs consecutively or saying when the allegations happened, started or finished.

The plaintiffs didn’t say how they were injured or suffered loss and their claim was almost completely lacking in any material facts, Taylor said.

In striking the claim, Taylor ordered Shore and Johnson to pay the provincial government $1,500 in costs along with $4,800 to Frontier Energy and $3,000 to AMEC America.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/06/judge-throws-out-wind-farm-lawsuit/