A lease that was never registered with the Minister responsible for the Indian Act back in 1995, has ended an effort to keep a gas station operating on Penticton Indian Band land.
Actton Super-Save had originally asked and received an injunction in February to keep operating after the landlords, Adam Eneas and Sandi Detjen, ordered the gas station operators to vacate the premises after nearly 30 years.
The operators of the station had argued, among a number of issues, that being forced to leave the property without properly decommissioning the fuel tanks could leave them liable for possible environmental damages.
Actton, and its sole director William Vandekerkhove, also filed a lawsuit against the landlords, alleging that they had engaged in fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation regarding their authority to enact the lease for the gas station property.
A different Supreme Court Justice reviewed the case on April 24, after Actton applied for a further injunction.
READ MORE: Gas station wins injunction to stay open on Penticton Indian Band land
The judgment on April 24 found that whether or not Actton would have success claiming damages was irrelevant to the argument on whether they could stay operating pending a trial.
Simply put, the Justice found that under the Indian Act, the fact the lease had never been registered with the Minister responsible for the Act meant the lease was illegitimate, and Actton had no grounds or rights to keep operating.
The Justice also found that the court could not make any order to force the landlords to let Actton stay on the property until a trial.
“In this application, it is Super Save that is seeking the assistance of the Court and that assistance cannot be forthcoming if it does not have a valid lease under s. 58(3) of the Indian Act,” reads a portion of the judgment.
As a result, the Justice ordered Actton Super Save to vacate the premises, and that it should have a reasonable opportunity to remove all of the items that belong to it from the property.
The Eneas family announced on May 6, their plans to bring in a new, Indigenous-owned chain of gas stations to take over the site. The Gen7 Fuel branding will be switched over in the coming weeks, according to the press release.
The claims by Actton regarding the misrepresentation related to the original lease have not yet been heard in court.
No response to Actton’s claims of misrepresentation has been filed by Eneas or Detjen according to court records.