Nude Skin - Court's nude-beach ruling strips couple of $100,000

Sex in the News: Court's nude-beach ruling strips couple of $100,000

Posted on Thursday, April 03 @ 23:10:42 CST

AUTHOR: Andy Ivens, The Province

A couple who backed out of a deal to buy a lakefront property because nudists sometimes cavorted on a nearby beach have lost their $100,000 down payment, says the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Ronald and Marlene Allen argued they should have been informed by the seller that nearby property on Okanagan Lake was a well-known nudist hangout in the summer.

A couple who backed out of a deal to buy a lakefront property in Kelowna because nudists sometimes cavorted on a nearby beach have lost their $100,000 down payment, the B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled.

Ronald and Marlene Allen argued they were surprised to learn that the property on Okanagan Lake, one lot over from Cedar Creek Beach, was a well-known nudist hangout in the summer.

When their prospective neighbours told the Allens that some of the nudists tended to get a little frisky, engaging in sex on a dock not far from the property, they decided not to buy in 1998.

But it was too late to get their down payment back, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled.

Justice Robert Metzger found there was no duty on the vendor to disclose the existence of a nude beach. So, the fact the vendors didn't mention it was not a valid reason to tear up the contract.

"It's not the nudity that's the problem," Kelowna director of parks and leisure services David Graham said yesterday.

"It's the other incidents," he said, referring to reports of sex in public.

Graham said sometimes residents call police to complain and sometimes the parks department asks police to check out a complaint, but in total they added up to only "a few" complaints a year.

The parks department's concern is that families with small kids in tow might be exposed to unexpected X-rated activity.

Graham said there is an ongoing debate on whether to erect signs warning folk about sunbathers in the buff.

"Signs go up and come down, and go up and come down," he said.

He added the beach is no secret, since it is reported in nudist guides.

The judge dealt with nudity and the claim by the Allens that it created a defect in the contract.

"The presence of nude bodies next door or parading in front of one's house may or may not be a defect," Metzger wrote in the reasons for his 2002 ruling.

"This requires a subjective test. To allow defects to be determined by individual preferences would open the floodgates of litigation by remorseful purchasers and create an impossible standard of disclosure for vendors.

"In this case, the alleged defect was occurring outside the boundaries of the property purchased."

A three-judge Appeal Court panel agreed.

Ken Summach's name appeared as plaintiff, but the property belongs to his son, who is out of the country.

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