Developer forced to demolish top floor fails to win compensation in lawsuit

    Developer Mario Di Palma's epic lawsuit against the city is finally done with after seven years.
   Di Palma sued the city for forcing him to demolish a fourth-storey addition to a condo project downtown.
   The marathon trial required 27 days before a judge who eventually issued a 47,000 word verdict shooting down Di Palma's claim for compensation.
   The epic saga began in October 2005 when Di Palma purchased a former shoe factory at Viger and Amherst. He paid $650,000 cash for the three storey industrial structure – without any inspection -  and got a balance of sale of $1.3 million at a steep 15 percent interest rate, which meant he was hard-pressed to make some money on this deal. He submitted a quickie architectural plan to the city, with a plan to add an extra floor.
   Thus began a long-term back-and-forth between Di Palma and bureaucrats and politicians who noted that the fourth floor didn't conform with zoning rules and that if he wanted to try to change it he'd have to apply to certain local decision-making bodies.
   In short, Di Palma had to navigate a complicated bureaucratic landscape and wagered that he'd eventually get the go-ahead to proceed.
   So he went ahead and built the fourth floor and the city declared it illegal.
   The construction site was shut down. He went to court for an injunction.
   Di Palma met with a city official to try to settle the issue but that meeting was a disaster.
   The employee said that he felt threatened during the encounter because Di Palma said that he might not be as calm if he stops taking his medications.
   The city worker complained to the police and a cop met Di Palma who did not open a file because he said Di Palma didn't seem to be intimidating at all and that Di Palma was literally on medication for Crohn's.
  Di Palma then accused the city of giving him the wrong information about an upcoming council meeting as an intentional method of keeping him out.
   He was forced to demolish the fourth floor in early 2007.
   In September 2007 Di Palma launched his $7.5 million lawsuit against the city, a bureaucrat and Borough Mayor Benoit Labonte saying that he unfairly influenced borough council against his project.
   Countless other incidents and characters were involved in the lengthy case that would simply take too long to analyze and repeat but the upshot is that the condo building is now only a three-storey affair.
   The story showcases the disaster that sometimes results from the clash of cultures between business folk and bureaucrats.
   Surely there are lessons to be derived from what ultimately turned out to be a massive waste of time and court proceedings sparked by the city's nitpicky insistence at keeping an extra floor of a building that probably would not have harmed anybody.