Waste company disputes regional district lawsuit

PENTICTON – A Penticton waste company says it will be filing a defence and counterclaim after being hit with a lawsuit by the regional district over unpaid dumping fees.

The B.C. Supreme Court filing, made by the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen on March 26, seeks $147,348.87 and costs from Appleton Waste Services Inc. of Penticton.

The regional district is seeking damages for unpaid dumping fees at the Campbell Mountain Landfill between November 2013 and January 2018, saying Appleton’s loads to the dump contained incorrectly identified refuse, resulting in incorrect rates being charged.

When incorrect loads were identified, the charges were revised.

The regional district says in its claim even if no revised charges were made, and Appleton charged the lowest dumping rate, the outstanding amount still owing would by $57,778, not including interest.

But Appleton Waste Services Inc. principal David Appleton said in an email to iNFOnews.ca today, April 6, his company has been overpaying the regional district on a cash basis since 2015, adding the rates were not assessed properly.

Appleton said the district responded to the company’s complaints by enacting new bylaws in February of this year.

"We would bring loads of clean wood or regular refuse and after dumping we would be told that the load was being charged not at the posted rate for that as expected, but rather they would charge these new higher rates without any backup or clarity as to why,” Appleton said in the email.

"We have been trying to deal with this for three years without so much as even a response from the RDOS from December 2016 to November 2017. We expect that the RDOS will continue to act improperly on this until we are able to have the courts decide on this. We believe we are in the right and look forward to resolving this once and for all in the courts,” Appleton wrote.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.