City, regional district win Kin Race Track lawsuit

VERNON – The seemingly never-ending lawsuit over the Kin Race Track in Vernon has ended, and the city and regional district are the winners.

The Okanagan Equestrian Society took the City of Vernon and the Regional District of the North Okanagan to court more than ten years ago and yesterday, May 15, the judge in the case handed down his decision.

The two sides argued the case in New Westminster during three separate appearances in July, August and September last year.

B.C. Supreme Court justive Michael Tammen has dismissed the action by the society and ruled it will have to pay the defendents’ legal costs.

The society alleged it was unjustly evicted from the racetrack lands, which it had leased from the city for racing days. Society president Robyn Dalzeil had said the group had the original contract agreements to prove its case.

“Obviously, the majority of the issues among the parties which I have decided could and likely should have been adjudicated years ago,” Justice Tammen says in her judgment. “I do not know why this case took more than ten years to get to trial.”

Tammen says he hopes with this judgment the defendants can “commence to make better use of the land.”

Find past stories on the Kin Race Track here.

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