'Off-grid' couples wage B.C. court battle as 'communal living' attempt ends in acrimony

It began as an experiment in communal living.

But an arrangement between two “off-grid” couples to buy a central B.C. acreage and live together on it dissolved into an acrimonious court battle involving accusations of uncleanliness and a heated disagreement over chicken butchering.

Following an 11-day trial spread over months, a B.C. Supreme Court judge last week rejected a bid by one of the couples to sue the other for trespass and defamation related to a Facebook posting accusing their former partners of harassment.

Justice Marguerite Church found Callandra Neustater was within her rights to respond to untrue posters spread around Quesnel, B.C., accusing her and husband Jacob of being