Banks awarded damages in long-running land dispute
A judgment has been handed down in a lengthy land dispute between two Paget neighbours that included the unauthorised removal of woodland.
Most of the damages in the long-running case were awarded to plaintiff Samuel Andrew Banks, the husband of former premier Dame Pamela Gordon.
The case covers 12 separate issues between the two parties — Mr Banks, who owns Gatewood at 17 Inglewood Lane, Paget, and defendants Simon and Deirdre Storey, the owners of neighbouring Long House at Number 13. An area of woodland reserve straddles the boundary.
One of the most significant issues in the case was that the Storeys, or their “agents”, removed trees and vegetation covering an area of approximately 7,000 sq ft from Mr Banks’s section of woodland reserve to construct a road for themselves, their servants, guest, agents and others to use.
The Storeys said the tree damage was caused by hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo in 2014 but meteorologist Michelle Pitcher and horticultural expert Myles Darrell rejected the claim.
Mr Darrell said that it must have been carried out by “a combination of machine and manpower”.
Jeffrey Elkinson, the lawyer for the Bankses, had previously reminded the court that satellite images showed trees in the woodland reserve “still in place” after the hurricane, yet months later, a pathway had been constructed through the area.
The Storeys claimed the cost of removing the trees was more than $600,000.
Larry Mussenden, the Chief Justice, ruled that acts of trespass, nuisance and conversion, discovered on June 17, 2021 when Mr Banks and Dame Pamela walked through the reserve, were carried out by the defendant for which Mr Banks was awarded damages.
It was heard that the defendant’s wrongful actions had created a liability for Mr Banks to create a conservation management plan.
Mr Banks was awarded damages in the form of an indemnity equal to the amount that it would cost to implement the plan.
Mr Justice Mussenden said: “The cost of restoration in the amount of $1.2 million is not out of proportion to the advantage of restoring the woodland reserve to its generally untouched natural state of decades or centuries.
“The court will hear from the parties on any reduced costs for an amended CMP.”
Mr Storey’s claim for a right of way to the pathway created was dismissed. It was found that the neighbours trespassed and created a nuisance on the Gatewood part of the woodland reserve.
However, Mr Banks’s claim for a permanent injunction restraining the Storeys from trespassing on Gatewood was not granted. He was awarded damages for the excavation and use of the roadway for a period from March 2014 up to a date when the road was backfilled on December 2023. He was also awarded damages for materials deposited on the roadway.
Separately, Mr Banks was awarded damages for trespass over a retaining wall constructed by the Storeys, which their lawyer Keith Robinson had said was the result of the defendant’s “lack of knowledge of the precise legal boundary” between the properties.
Mr Banks was also granted a mandatory injunction requiring the Storeys to remove the wall where it encroaches his property.
In a counterclaim, the Storeys said that Mr Banks trespassed on to their property by laying a Belco trench and cable across it.
Mr Robinson submitted that Mr Banks had made an arrangement with the electricity supplier. “He took it upon himself to put in a new line and he had no right to do so,” he said. “This is a case of Mr Banks doing exactly what he wanted.”
Mr Justice Mussenden awarded user damages — a form of compensatory damages — to the defendants.
Additionally, the Storeys said that Mr Banks, in or around 2006, erected two ornamental pillars, a gate switch, a mailbox post and decorative lighting and plants that encroached on their property.
The court declined to grant an order for them to be removed as the trespass was considered “trifling” but an award of modest damages was granted to the defendants.
Furthermore, the erection of a chain-link fence by Mr Banks in 2005 was ruled to be trespass. Mr Banks was ordered to remove it and an award “of nominal or modest” damages was granted to the defendants in relation to it.
Mr Banks was awarded aggravated damages — damages that are awarded for mental distress or injury to feeling — reflecting the seriousness of the trespass in the woodland reserve and destruction of vegetation.
He was also awarded aggravated damages for the conduct of Mr Storey on June 5, 2023 in relation to allegations that Dame Pamela said he was not of the “right caste” and that the Storeys were not good enough for Inglewood Estate.
Giving evidence during the case, Dame Pamela said: “What you’re talking about, a Black woman who grew up in a segregated Bermuda until I was a teenager and you’re going to say that I am going to tell somebody else that they’re not good enough? I don’t think so. I’m sorry … that one I’m not going to let go.”
Mr Justice Mussenden said in his judgment that the explanation had a “resounding ring of truth to it along with an expression of injury to her [Dame Pamela’s] dignity and pride”.
Mr Storey was not awarded any aggravated damages, including for any media reports on the case, the erection of the boundary fence, complaints to the Department of Planning by Dame Pamela or an open letter from Mr Banks to purchase Long House.
Mr Justice Mussenden is to hear the parties on costs.
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