Failed court case could cost Lismore council $600,000

A FAILED court case launched by Lismore City Council against Terania Creek landowners could cost the council at least $600,000 in legal fees and compensation.

A FAILED court case launched by Lismore City Council against Terania Creek landowners could cost the council at least $600,000 in legal fees and compensation.

The disastrous case has shone a light on a litany of bureaucratic bungles in relation to the council's record keeping and legal procedures.

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Heard late last year in the Land and Environment Court, the case revolved around the construction in 2012 of a fire trail on the 60ha property which council alleged breached its development conditions and caused runoff to pollute a nearby creek after heavy rain.

A total of 40 criminal charges were subsequently laid against the Terania Creek landowners, Heidi Zenzmaier and Jari Ihalainen.

But all the charges were either dismissed by the court or withdrawn before trial.

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The judge found that council acted unreasonably in issuing a "stop work" notice to Mr Ihalainen, which had the unintended effect of restricting him from constructing erosion barriers along the trail which would have prevented pollution in the first place.

During the trial, cross-examination by the defendant's barrister also uncovered several contradictory sworn statements by council staff which the council's legal team had been subpoenaed to produce.

Mr Ihalainen, who works in Brisbane, described the case as a "massive imposition" on his family's life, which delayed indefinitely their plan to relocate to the Terania Creek farm.

The expensive legal action by council - which involved the use of a $8000 per day legal representative during the two-week trial - has also cost ratepayers dearly.

To date, council has spent a total of $299,000 on this matter since it began in 2012, and has agreed to pay the majority of the defendants' costs in the failed action expected to cost a further $300,000.

A council spokesman said it was "disappointing" the action was unsuccessful, and said the evidence was reviewed by two solicitors and two barristers before council proceeded.

"The decision highlights the difficulties that all prosecuting authorities face when it comes to satisfying the court 'beyond reasonable doubt'," the spokesman said.

But the massive legal cost blowout has prompted outrage from Lismore councillor Gianpiero Battista, who criticised council's "arrogant" approach to pursuing development breaches.

He argued the council should have better communicated with the landowner and sought his cooperation instead of launching expensive legal action.

"We shouldn't be gambling with ratepayers' money if we can avoid it," Cr Battista said.

He added that the legal debacle was "just one of many" bad decisions by the council.

"We heard earlier this year we had to pay $300,000 to resurface the road in Casino," he said. "(Council is) asking the community to fork out $500,000 every year on the Biodiversity Management Strategy ... we always said we need to fix our operations first before we go to the community to ask for money."