TORONTO — A woman who spent 20 years wrongly insisting she owned a piece of her neighbour's property will have to pay his estate $282,000 in legal costs, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday.
In making the award, the court found Angelina Bailey had acted unreasonably in pressing her claim despite solid evidence that she knew she was mistaken.
"It is truly regrettable that the proceedings carried on to this point," the Appeal Court said in its judgment.
The dispute began when Bailey bought property on Nottawasaga Bay in Tiny Township, Ont. She claimed also to own a piece of adjacent property that actually belonged to Gerald Barbour, who died last July — about a month after the case was argued.
Had Bailey obtained a survey when she bought her island property, it would have been clear to her that she was not buying the piece she laid claim to, the Appeal Court found. In addition, the director of titles would later confirm the land boundaries in Barbour's favour.
Nevertheless, she ended up asserting a legal claim against Barbour, who had owned the property since 1949, that resulted in intensive litigation, including two trials and an appeal.
Initially, a Superior Court justice sided with her, but the Appeal Court overturned the ruling in February.
Barbour's estate asked for a total of $410,000 in costs, while Bailey argued either the estate should pay her costs, or each side should foot its own bills.
While the Appeal Court found the Barbour claim excessive, it also rejected Bailey's position that she not pay him anything.
For one thing, the court found she had achieved little beyond what Barbour offered her in 1995 to be allowed to walk across his property: an annual licence at $1 a year.
"Had (Bailey) accepted that or a similar offer, all of these proceedings could have been avoided," the Appeal Court said.
Instead, she objected to Barbour's position and argued she owned the land and had a right to use it. At that point, lawyers got involved and the dispute began escalating.
Bailey "stubbornly maintained" her erroneous position that the property was hers, resulting in the unnecessary and costly litigation, the Appeal Court said.
The court gave her 30 days to pay the $282,000 to the Barbour estate.
