The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) was back in court this week asking for a reduction in the amount of interest claimed by the Vancouver-based Saxton family on a court award in the 1987 expropriation of 44 hectares of land on the shores of what is now Rainbow Park.According to the RMOW the Saxtons are seeking $4,475,000 in interest.Lawyers for the municipality are arguing that it should be reduced due to the significant delays by the Saxtons through their company Rainbow Country Estates in advancing the claim for compensation. In 1987 Whistler paid $367,000 for the land. But after 20 years fighting, a B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that sum was a million dollars short and awarded the Saxton's $1.3 million. On February 22, 2012, the RMOW paid Rainbow $1,394,345.96, which represented the outstanding unpaid compensation of $933,000 plus the minimum amount of accrued interest owing. "The judge reserved judgment and did not give a date as to when she... will hand down her reasons," said Saxton's lawyer George Macintosh in an email to the Pique.A year ago, when the judge ruled in the Saxton's favour, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, a personal injury lawyer who was not yet Whistler's mayor, estimated the financial tally could be as high as $3 million.Whistler was to have met in court at the beginning of the year to discuss this matter but at that the time Macintosh emailed to Pique to say the case was adjourned "to discuss possible settlement."
