[Sust-mar] Sperry's Beach Update- November 7 '08

[Tom Daly]

On Tuesday November 4 John Bell, Phil Carter and I (representing the
Sperrys Beach Preservation Society) accompanied our lawyer Tim Matthews to
the Supreme Court in Halifax for Round 1.

Tim has summarized what happened as:
<begin>
A preliminary chambers hearing was held before Justice Suzanne Hood of the
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Halifax on Tuesday, November 4th.

Timothy Matthews QC represented the Plaintiff, Sperrys Beach Preservation
Society.  Peter Bryson QC represented the Defendants David and Paula
Himmelman and Ruth Seamone.

The procedural question was whether the Court should proceed immediately to
an interpretation of the historic deeds, wills and plans on file, or
whether there were factual matters in dispute which would require a trial
to determine.

Justice Hood decided that it was preferable to proceed by way of trial, so
that all factual and legal questions is dispute would be addressed at one
time.

The Defendants have filed a Defence and the usual pre-trial procedures of
document disclosure and discovery of witnesses will have to be completed
before a trial date is set.

The ultimate question before the Court will be whether the Himmelman family
owns Sperrys Beach and therefore has the right to exclude the public from
accessing it.  A former public road (now owned by the Department of Natural
Resources) divides the Himmelman farm property from the shore at Petite
Riviere.
<end>

>From our point of view, we are very pleased with this outcome, since
'addressing all factual  and legal questions in dispute ' is exactly what
we have been seeking for many years.  As Tim points out, "the usual
pre-trial procedures of document disclosure and discovery of witnesses will
have to be completed before a trial date is set"- at this point we don't
know how long this will take.  When we have news ... you'll hear it first!
:-)