Canada, Nanaimo Hells Angels lose appeal regarding 2007 seizure of clubhouse..

OFF THE WIRE
BY: NEAL HALL
Source: vancouversun.com
A Hells Angels appeal of the seizure of the Nanaimo chapter's clubhouse by the director of the B.C. Civil Forfeiture office was dismissed today by a B.C. Court of Appeal panel.
The clubhouse was seized three years ago because the director believed the property was being used as an instrument for unlawful activity.
During the seizure of the clubhouse, heavily-armed police also seized three Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a number of unregistered shotguns stored in an unlocked gun case in a closet and a .25 calibre restricted handgun located in an insecure main floor locker with two boxes of ammunition.
There was also "clear evidence" that the clubhouse was being used as a “booze can,” where liquor was sold without a licence, and other evidence of a serious beating of a former Hells Angels member in the clubhouse in 2002.
On appeal, the company that owned the property, Angel Acres Recreation and Festival Property Ltd., argued that the judge who initially authorized the "interim preservation orders" on Nov. 8, 2007, made a number of errors.
At the time, the approving judge was B.C. Supreme Court Justice Daphne Smith, who was appointed to the B.C. Court of Appeal in May 2008.
When the Hells Angels filed a legal attack of the original IPO in B.C. Supreme Court, Justice Barry Davies heard the matter.
Davies decided last year there was no material non-disclosure in obtaining the original IPO and that the director of civil forfeiture had satisfied the requirements for an enduring IPO, so granted the continuing order to seize the clubhouse and certain contents until the matter can be heard at a civil trial.
On appeal, the company and a number of individual appellants -- Richard Phillips, Lloyd Stennes, Robert Widdifield, Raymond Bradley Cunningham, Lawrence Dean Bergstrom and Gordon Keith Jones -- argued the judge he erred in both decisions, so the enduring IPO should be quashed.
Alternatively, the appellants submitted the seizure was a disproportionate response to the circumstances and the order should be varied to allow the appellants to use the property on specified terms until the pending trial.
B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Ian Donald, in a written ruling released Tuesday, concluded: "I do not find any reversible error in the judge’s disposition of the issues or in the scope of the order and I would dismiss the appeal."
Appeal Court Justices Richard Low and Kathryn Neilson agreed, making the ruling unanimous.
The decision also pointed out: "The director has raised very serious issues to be tried about alleged continuing high-level unlawful activity emanating from or otherwise involving the use of the clubhouse by the HAMC [Hells Angels Motorcycle Club] and the NHAMC [Nanaimo Hells Angels Motorcycle Club]."
"This Court of Appeal decision is welcome news," Solicitor General Rich Coleman said Tuesday in a statement.
"This ruling means the Nanaimo Hells Angels clubhouse will remain under the protection of the Civil Forfeiture Office pending trial."
The B.C. Civil Forfeiture office was established in 2006 to seize the proceeds of unlawful activity. The office has seized $13 million to date, including $4.4 million in cash and assets since April 1 of this fiscal year.
The full Appeal Court judgment is online: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/CA/10/05/2010BCCA0539.htm
The B.C. Supreme Court judgment is also online: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/09/03/2009BCSC0322.htm
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