Redland Council appeals Supreme Court decision ordering it to repay waterfront property owners $10m
Seven months after losing a Supreme Court appeal and being ordered to repay millions to waterfront property owners, a Queensland council is continuing its legal challenge.
Local
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A southside council, forced to repay millions to ratepayers after charging waterfront property owners an invalid levy, has been granted special leave to appeal to the High Court.
Chief Justice Mary Kiefel and Justice Jayne Jagot granted Redland City Council’s High Court application after the council’s unsuccessful appeal to the Queensland Supreme Court of Appeal in August.
The council litigation comes after landowners won a landmark class action in the Supreme Court in 2021 and won a subsequent appeal in the Appeal Court in August.
The Supreme Court found that incorrectly levied charges and unpaid interest, calculated to be more than $10 million, must be repaid to ratepayers.
The High Court appeal is a last-ditch attempt to overturn the Supreme Court order and subsequent appeal, both of which resulted in the council being ordered to repay Special Charges levy payments to waterfront estate ratepayers.
The council’s High Court bid will be headed by one of the country’s top legal minds, Jonathan Horton, known for his questioning of former CCC chairman Alan MacSporran over his role in the dismissal of eight Logan City councillors last year.
Mr MacSporran has since resigned.
Residents living in ritzy canal estates won the landmark Supreme Court class action after banding together to challenge being charged about $750 a year by the council, which said it used the funds to maintain canal walls in the exclusive Raby Bay, Aquatic Paradise and Sovereign Waters estates.
Ratepayers from Raby Bay and other waterfront estates filed a claim against Redland City Council in October 2018 after the council advised that the canal maintenance levy was invalid.
The council sent 1650 ratepayers a refund after ceasing the levy in 2017.
Wellington Point ratepayer Simon Akero, who has lived on the lake at Sovereign Waters for more than 20 years, said for the council to win the appeal, it had to successfully argue that ratepayers had received benefits and value from revenue collected from the waterfront fees and charges.
Shine Lawyers, which conducted the class action on behalf of 1055 members, said the grant of special leave to appeal did not mean the council had won.
Shine has argued that $7,782,556.82 was levied between July 2011 and July 2017 and $3,791,536.80 in interest remained owed.
“The High Court of Australia is the last possible avenue available to Redland City Council to appeal the decision,” Shine Lawyers said.
“Once the appeal is heard, the decision of the High Court will be final and there will be no further right of appeal for either party.”
Both sides will be given the chance to make written and oral submissions.
The timetable for submissions and hearings has not been scheduled, with hearings depending on orders made by the court and the court’s availability.
More Coverage
Originally published as Redland Council appeals Supreme Court decision ordering it to repay waterfront property owners $10m
The hidden pencil case that brought down a Brisbane coke syndicate
When police found $17,000 of cocaine hidden in a pencil case at a Brisbane home they decided not to press charges. They opted to play the long game, and it worked a treat.
Brisbane house gutted by ‘ferocious’ wall of flames
Emergency crews rushed to the scene of a well-involved house fire in Brisbane’s south on Thursday afternoon.