Regrettably, this appears to be a case where the office of the Director of Civil Forfeiture has taken zealous measures outside the proper bounds of its home statute with the unfortunate effect of depriving a citizen of lawful possession and use of her property, putting that citizen to what I suspect is considerable expense and inconvenience to retrieve her property.
Those ...
As is frequently noted in the press, B.C.’s Director of Civil Forfeiture is very aggressive in pursuing forfeiture in all sorts of cases, often without opposition. Occasionally, however, the court steps in to curtail this enthusiasm. One such interesting case took place recently.
Jason Dery, a 40 year old “automotive collision repair technician”, has a terrible ...
Some time ago I blogged about the decision in B.C. (Director of Civil Forfeiture) v. Wolff. That case was something of a setback for the Director of Civil Forfeiture who had sought forfeiture from Mr. Wolff of his $52,000 truck. In November 2005, Mr. Wolff was arrested for possession for the purposes of trafficking. As a “favour”, Mr. Wolff was transporting a duffle bag of ...
In earlier blogs, I noted the financial success of the Office of the Director of Civil Forfeiture in recovering funds by seeking forfeiture of assets from people who are alleged to have been involved in “unlawful activity”. As the Director frequently argues, the purpose is to take the profit out of criminal activity, to prevent the use of specific assets to unlawfully ...
B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Office, still a relatively new entity, is becoming more aggressive in its approach to seeking forfeiture of what it sees as illicitly acquired assets or property that is being used for an unlawful purpose. In September 2011, the Director of Civil Forfeiture seized five “high-end sports cars” for allegedly street racing. In October 2011, the ...
In April 2006, B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Act (“CFA”) came into force. Seven Canadian provinces now have similar legislation.
The CFA provides a mechanism for the government, through the Director of the Civil Forfeiture Office, to seek the forfeiture of the “proceeds of unlawful activity”. Forfeiture is ordered by the Court when it is proven that property is ...
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