Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A lawsuit that pitted a government corporation against a sitting MLA has been settled out of court.

Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny was one of four named defendants in a statement of claim filed by the NWT Business Development Investment Corporation. - NNSL file photo

Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny was one of four named defendants – along with Alex Arychuk, Grant Beck and the NWT Metis Development Corporation – in a statement of claim for $100,000 filed in 2008 by the NWT Business Development Investment Corporation (BDIC).

The government-owned corporation was suing Dolynny and three of his business partners for an unpaid loan guarantee of $100,000 to Aurora World, a Yellowknife tourism company that folded in 2007.

Lawyer Douglas McNiven, who has represented BDIC in its claim, gave Justice Karan Shaner his consent for the discontinuance of the action in Supreme Court Friday.

The settlement was "kind of a last-minute thing," said McNiven in court.

Reached by phone, neither McNiven nor Dolynny would reveal the terms of the settlement, though McNiven said statistically, a high percentage of cases settle out of court.

"We're all happy that it's resolved," he said. "Both sides. And I'm sure the court is too. Because it takes another one off the docket."

Dolynny echoed the sentiment.

"This has been something that's been plaguing (me) for many years and I'm very confident and relieved that we're finally moving on," he said.

Though Dolynny could not say for certain, he speculated that given the fact that the lawsuit involved a Crown corporation, the terms of the settlement may be released at some point in the future "through some of the government processes."

In 2004, after Aurora World Corporation took over from the failed Raven Tours, the BDIC was owed $1.8 million for loans – a debt run up by the previous business. The loans were eventually consolidated and the government agreed to forgive $815,000, provided Aurora World Corporation repaid the remaining $1 million, plus interest.

In November 2004, Dolynny and his fellow defendants each provided a loan guarantee of $100,000, payable if and when Aurora World Corporation defaulted on its loan.

According to the statement of claim, the loan was in arrears by Nov. 30, 2008.

In their statement of defence, the defendants acknowledged executing a loan guarantee but stated that they were "induced to execute the guarantee by verbal assurances from the plaintiff … that in return for their business experience and stewardship, that the guarantee was a mere formality and enforcement …would not be aggressively pursued."

BDIC CEO Pawan Chugh did not return calls for comment.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.