£125k Damages claim collapses - £5k award.
This week after a 10-year dispute, the High Court awarded just £5,000 to one of two Yorkshire residents who had brought a case suing their neighbours for £125,000 for allegedly trespassing on scrubland during building work to provide new homes on a brown field site.
Alan Pearson and Chris Sinclair who share a house in Upper Batley Low Lane, Batley, West Yorkshire, launched the trespass claim against neighbours Brian and Frances Gavaghan and their company in December 2005.
The dispute goes back to 1996 when some of the Gavaghans' neighbours bought a piece of wooded scrubland that they hoped would stand in the way of any future development.
The land was bought with "the purpose of making it as difficult as possible, if not impossible" for the adjacent land to be developed as there would be insufficient room for to gain access to site said lawyers for the pair.
Mr Sinclair and Mr Pearson claimed that part of their land (approximately 4m square) had been trespassed upon. In April 2006 they were granted an injunction forbidding the Gavaghans from using any part of the land as an access route.
The Gavaghans demolished a corner of their own house giving them more space for an alternative access to the site and they are now close to completing five luxury homes on the land.
Mr Sinclair and Mr Pearson made a claim for damages from the Gavaghans’ for the trespass over the land of £125k based upon the profits the Gavagahans were due to receive from the project, which were intended to be used as a pension for them in their latter years.
But the Gavaghans, represented by Jordans Solicitors in Wakefield have fought the case all the way.Mark Halliwell, barrister for the Gavaghans, stated during the case that any incidents of trespass were unintentional and trivial.
In his written judgment that was handed down formally today, Mr Justice Pattern stated that the figures claimed by the expert valuer used by Mr Sinclair and Mr Pearson were unrealistic. He took into consideration that no damage was caused to the land, and that the Defendants obtained other ways of accessing the site. He awarded them a sum of £5,000.
The Gavaghans are said to be pleased by the outcome and that action is finally over.They now want to complete the construction and get on with the rest of their lives. They believe that the decision means that common sense has prevailed.