MOOSE JAW — Property owner Vernon Lester Anderson is refusing to accept a judge’s decision that favoured the City of Moose Jaw and is appealing to a higher court to have the decision overturned.
Anderson, owner of D-S Automotive Ltd., opposes a decision that King’s Bench Justice Michael Megaw made several months ago that awarded 134 Manitoba Street West — which includes the historic 1927-built Morrison Blackwood Hardware Building and an adjacent multi-tenant retail building — to the city.
The judge awarded this property to the municipality because of a dispute involving Anderson, who fused to pay taxes because he thought a property reassessment was excessive — the value went from $542,300 to $1,724,100, a rise of roughly 317 per cent — and wanted an appropriate level of taxation.
Anderson recently filed a notice of appeal with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal opposing Justice Megaw’s entire judgment, saying there was no recording or transcript of the court proceedings. Furthermore, he alleged that an affidavit that was filed in his case was missing information since it failed to mention that he had contested the city’s decision to take his property to the Saskatchewan Mediation Board.
Continuing, the property owner said he has physical and mental disabilities, is unable to read lengthy documents because of poor eyesight, ocular damage and dyslexia, has hearing damage and requires a headset to provide sufficient sound to hear without outside noise.
“My mind takes excessive time to comprehend info and process properly and then to be able to share my thoughts properly (because of) ADHD,” Anderson wrote. “I am 79 years old and have been treated unfairly during this whole process. I have paid my taxes, along with all the penalties and interest that the city added on.”
Moreover, he wrote that he received no response from the City of Moose Jaw to a letter he sent on Aug. 24, 2021, so he was relying on section 35 of the Criminal Code — defence of property — as part of his argument for wanting an overturning of Justice Megaw’s decision.
Also, the property owner claimed that the judge failed to mention any of his concerns about authorities not inspecting his property or about certain parties having “no standing” in this process.
He also alleged that the “writ of possession” that city hall filed against him was tried in a court on Nov. 5, 2024, before an inspection of his property had been completed, even though the judge at that time, Justice Rochelle Wempe, allegedly wanted the reverse.
Anderson filed an exhibit from that November hearing summarizing the meeting.
That exhibit showed that Justice Wempe made an order that Anderson was the authorized representative for D-S Automotive Ltd., and that the case file and the City of Moose Jaw’s application for a writ of possession for the lands proceed under The Landlord and Tenant Act. However, she declined to make an order about the need for a structural engineer to testify in the matter.
Anderson requested relief from the decision to take his property without authorities first completing a proper assessment of his property.
Anderson noted that he filed the appeal himself because his lawyer, Tim Hansen with Chow McLeod Law, declined to help him, while four other community lawyers also declined to offer support.
According to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal registrar’s office, the notice of appeal initiates the process, but before a panel of three judges will hear the matter, Anderson and the city must submit more documents.
The former, as the appellant, must submit a written argument and provide an appeal book containing records of the lower court’s decision. The latter, as the respondent, must provide a written statement in response.
Once the court has this information, it can proceed to a hearing — which could occur this fall, the registrar’s office added.
