Douglas Creek Estates developers score court victory

The former owners of Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia have been awarded almost $600,000 in court costs.

Don and John Henning were paid more than $16 million by the province to abandon their housing development at the height of the Caledonia uprising in 2006. The Canada Revenue Agency later tried to tax the payout as a capital gain.

In June, a judge ruled the $16 million was not a gain, but compensation for the destruction of their business, and therefore should not be taxed. The CRA did not appeal that ruling — they had until last month to do so.

The judge has now ordered the government to pay the court costs.