Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jun 2013
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kim Bolan
Page: 5

JUDGE ORDERS PROVINCE TO REWRITE FORFEITURE CLAIMS

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered the provincial government to
rewrite some of its claims against the Nanaimo Hells Angels in a
long-running civil suit over the bikers' clubhouse.

Justice Barry Davies agreed with some of the Hells Angels' concerns
that the pleadings of the director of civil forfeiture were too vague
or over-reaching, making it difficult for the bikers to defend
themselves when the case finally goes to trial next March.

The Nanaimo clubhouse, at 805 Victoria Rd., was seized on Nov. 9,
2007, beginning a six-year battle in B.C. Supreme Court over its ownership.

The province is alleging it should not be returned to the notorious
biker gang because it has been used as an instrument of unlawful activity.

Davies acknowledged the many twists and turns in the court battle as
he laid out the background of the case in his ruling Friday.

"The present application is another in a series of interlocutory
procedural and evidentiary skirmishes brought by the parties in this
protracted litigation that was commenced by the Director in 2007,"
Davies said.

"The action has, to date, proceeded in fits and starts with detours
from this Court to the Court of Appeal, as well as to the Supreme
Court of Canada, to argue or attempt to re-argue many of the
interlocutory issues raised."

In this latest round, Davies ordered some paragraphs of the
government's claim to be removed and others to be reworded to include
only specific allegations of criminal activity linked to the clubhouse.

Davies asked for phrases such as "including, but not limited to" and
"such as but not limited to" to be struck.

But he also left intact a list of specific crimes alleged, including
"possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking in Nanaimo in
June-July 2003;" "possession of cocaine for the purposes of
trafficking in Nanaimo in February-April 2003;" "production and
possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking in Sorrento,
B.C., in June-September 2002;" and "building and marketing the 'Big
Red Shredder' for the purposes of assisting in the harvesting of
marijuana at various dates leading up to at least December 2003."

Allegations that the clubhouse had been used in the commission of
assaults causing serious bodily harm and extortion also had to provide
specific names and dates and not just general allegations, Davies said.

The director of civil forfeiture had listed two specific assaults in
2002 and two extortions in 2002 and 2003 as examples of criminal
activity, suggesting that there were more.

Davies also said other references in the director's claim to 2010
charges laid against some Nanaimo Hells Angels and associates had to
be deleted because they occurred after the government seized the
clubhouse and therefore couldn't be linked to it.

But Davies rejected demands by the Hells Angels to make the government
detail how the clubhouse was used for the criminal activities alleged
in the case.
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