Couran Cove residents to pay $70,000 after bitter body corporate court battle

Residents of a strife-torn Gold Coast island resort where power and water have been cut off for months have now been hit with an order to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

Residents of a strife-torn Gold Coast island resort where power and water have been cut off for months have had salt rubbed into their wounds after being hit with a court order for tens of thousands of dollars.

Couran Cove Island Resort on South Stradbroke Island has been wracked by a bitter body corporate dispute for over a year.

Couran Cove. Photo: Greg Stolz.

The dispute over alleged unpaid body corporate levies led to services including power, water and sewerage being switched off earlier this year.

The former five-star eco-resort, built in the 1990s by billionaire US philanthropist Chuck Feeney with the help of ex-Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke, closed its doors and many residents abandoned the island.

But about 50 stayed out, opting to live “off-grid” using generators, water pumps and solar panels.

Some of the residents launched court action seeking peace and good behaviour orders against two companies that provide services to the resort, their Sydney-based director Simon Napoli and three associates.

The solicitor for each of the defendants, Jonathan Nyst of Gold Coast law firm, NystLegal, argued that the complaints were deficient and should be struck out when they were initially brought before Southport Magistrates Court in December last year.

Couran Cove residents. Picture: Nigel Hallett

But the court allowed the Couran Cove residents to continue their claims provided they provided more detailed particulars of their complaints.

The residents sought to withdraw their complaints three days before a scheduled hearing in September, but Mr Nyst argued the 10 complaints should be formally dismissed with costs ordered.

In a decision handed down this week, magistrate Jane Bentley agreed.

She ruled that each of the complaints was filed for “ulterior” purposes, and it was likely that the complainants never intended to pursue their complaints to a hearing, or file any material in support of their claims.

Ms Bentley ordered that together they pay the defendants’ full legal costs of $70,688.40.