A South Australian family is living a nightmare after discovering a local racing club had allowed tonnes of rubbish to be dumped on land their dream home is built on, a lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n
Army veteran Jacob Malthouse, 41, and wife Kylie, 32, are suing the Mount Gambier Racing Club for \u201csignificant stress and anxiety\u201d over an alleged illegal underground rubbish tip.<\/p>\n
Court documents accuse the 158 year-old club of multiple law breaches, causing \u201cserious environmental harm\u201d and covering up alleged dumping of hazardous waste over a decade.<\/p>\n
Buried rubbish in a large underground pit, which the club is accused of failing to clean up, included vet syringes, horseshoes, domestic trash and demolition material such as concrete and steel, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n
The couple, of Glenburnie, are seeking more than $132,000 compensation \u2013 along with more than $40,000 in legal fees \u2013 to cover \u201creasonable costs\u201d after being forced to remove allegedly unlawful buried waste from their property at their own expense. <\/p>\n
The rubbish pile, measuring more than 140 cubic metres in size and almost 5m deep, is today sitting 15m from their South East home, which cost more than $660,000 to build on the town\u2019s eastern outskirts.<\/p>\n
Their claim does not include a $100,000 tax bill for an investment property fire sale to fund the clean-up, which included moving rubbish back to the club\u2019s land adjacent their property.<\/p>\n
COURT \u2018DELAYS\u2019<\/p>\n
While the club has not formally responded in court, officials deny any liability over, what the lawsuit alleges, is an \u201congoing, visible, unsightly and offensive\u201d stockpile.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the club, founded in 1883, refused to comment outside court while its lawyers did not respond to inquiries.<\/p>\n
The Environment, Resources and Development Court last week heard the club had unnecessarily \u201cdelayed\u201d the dispute.<\/p>\n
The court on Friday ordered the parties into a judge-led mediation.<\/p>\n
Outside court, Mr Malthouse, a father-of-four who served in the army for almost five years, said the past 18 months had been a \u201cnightmare\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said it had left he and his wife of six years suffering \u201csignificant stress, anxiety and substantial personal costs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Neighbours have complained about the eyesore while the family has spent \u201chours\u201d clearing rubbish, which also included bones, tyres, tree stumps and oil drums.<\/p>\n
Mr Malthouse, a diesel mechanic, was forced to change his working hours to clean while their weekends have been spent on the pile.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve suffered quite a bit and spent our savings trying to fix it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just phenomenal how this has been allowed to happen. It\u2019s been pretty traumatising.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re living a nightmare. We\u2019re just a normal, quiet family looking to live in our dream house.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want it cleaned up now and for our costs to be repaid. We didn\u2019t want to go to court and we didn\u2019t want all this stress.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said he has been forced to sell \u201cpersonal assets\u201d including an investment property for his children that will incur a capital-gains tax bill worth more than $100,000. <\/p>\n
LAND DAMAGE<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s lawsuit, filed with the court in November last year, accuses the club of multiple Environment Protection Act breaches.<\/p>\n
These include legal duty violations, causing \u201cserious\u201d environmental \u201charm\u201d and \u201cnuisance\u201d, polluting, \u201cuncontrolled\u201d illegal dumping, operating a landfill depot without a licence as well as failing to take reasonable steps to stop, or minimise, land damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe waste \u2026 has caused actual damage to the land and amenity value of the area,\u201d the claim states.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt created a risk of harm to air, water, organisms and ecosystems because it was disposed of and buried on the land without containment, monitoring or remediation measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt constitutes an environmental nuisance, because it has an adverse effect \u2026 and unreasonably interferes with the (couple\u2019s) enjoyment of the land.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environmental nuisance is ongoing, visible, unsightly and offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
COSTS BLOWOUT<\/p>\n
The club received local District Council of Grant approval in 2011 to subdivide land on Allan Scott Racecourse\u2019s northwest corner, court documents show. <\/p>\n
While the club then \u201cdug a borrow pit\u201d to supply racecourse sand or loam, between 2003 and 2013 it allowed waste to be unlawfully dumped, the papers assert. <\/p>\n
The claim states: \u201cThe (club) caused, suffered or permitted the disposal of the waste over a period of years. The waste was concealed during (its) developmental activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Malthouse, a transport company branch manager, and his schoolteacher wife bought the vacant housing estate land, off the Princes Highway, in 2024 for their council-approved \u201cdream home\u201d.<\/p>\n
Builders discovered the waste 30cm below ground as they dug house foundations on January 9 last year before a local earthmoving firm quoted an initial clean-up cost of $10,000.<\/p>\n
Mr Malthouse told the club about this case a fortnight later.<\/p>\n
The club, the claim asserts, said on February 19 that it would pay that cost but then \u201cretracted the offer\u201d the next day as it advised the couple it \u201cdid not accept any liability for the waste or the costs of remediating the land\u201d. <\/p>\n
It did, however, \u201cconsent\u201d to use racecourse land for the couple\u2019s contractors to remediate their property, the papers allege.<\/p>\n
Its alleged local officials told him the club and local community used the land as a \u201cdump site\u201d.<\/p>\n
Transfer work costs over the next three months blew out to almost $62,000 while almost $50,000 extra is needed to remove the \u201cstockpiled\u201d rubbish.<\/p>\n
The couple are seeking $132,730 compensation for \u201closs and damage\u201d, the claim states.<\/p>\n
Other expenses include more than $1000 on water to \u201cre-compact\u201d soil, $3120 to rent another house after their construction was delayed and nearly $10,000 in other costs together with a growing legal bill.<\/p>\n
The club has not filed a statement of defence or public response with the court, records show. <\/p>\n
The case, before senior Judge Michael Durrant, is due back in court later this month.<\/p>\n
LEGAL DEADLINE DECISION \u2018ERROR\u2019<\/p>\n
A judge presiding over the South East waste dump dispute was in \u201cerror\u201d when he wrongly approved a legal deadline extension while on holidays, a court heard.<\/p>\n
Environment Development and Resource Court senior judge Michael Durrant approved Jacob Malthouse, 41, and his wife Kylie, 32, to formally launch their litigation against Mt Gambier Racing Club this year.<\/p>\n
But the court last week heard the judge made an \u201coversight\u201d when he made orders six months ago that wrongly granted the couple\u2019s bid to extend a legal deadline to sue. <\/p>\n
Under state environmental protection laws, a litigant must launch legal action within three years of an alleged contravention. <\/p>\n
They also must have court permission to \u201cserve\u201d relevant legal documents on the party they are suing.<\/p>\n
The court heard the waste was dumped on Mt Gambier Racing club land between 2003 and 2013. <\/p>\n
But the couple, who live adjacent the horse track on the town\u2019s eastern outskirts, have stated they only discovered the tip last year during their house construction.<\/p>\n
The legal blunder emerged after the club sought to have the deadline extension order to allow the couple to launch their civil claim be overturned.<\/p>\n
Enzo Belperio, for the club, argued the legal technicality should be argued at the future trial. <\/p>\n
Will Mellor, for the couple, disagreed the order should be revoked in the \u201cinterests of justice\u201d\/<\/p>\n
Judge Durrant, a former commercial law partner, authorised his orders on January 13, which he told the court last Wednesday came while he was \u201con leave\u201d.<\/p>\n
A pre-trial hearing, in the week before Christmas 2024, was delayed due to unrelated strike action, he said.<\/p>\n
The judge, who said the judiciary is \u201cfallible\u201d, admitted he shouldn\u2019t have granted an extension of time without proper argument between the two parties. <\/p>\n
He said it was \u201cregrettable\u201d because of the \u201cexpense\u201d it then cost the parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an oversight on my part, I think it was an error and it is regrettable,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me in the circumstances \u2026 I should revoke the order.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, after a rare \u201cin chambers\u201d hearing behind closed doors, the court heard different ways to fix the mistake.<\/p>\n
The judge is considering his decision. Neither party commented outside court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A South Australian family is living a nightmare after discovering a local racing club had allowed tonnes 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