The owner of a contracting company has been ordered to pay $128,900 to the Cowichan Green Community Society for breach of trust.
The Supreme Court of B.C. ruled in June that Christopher Patrick Whittle, owner of Trend Contracting Co., received $100,800 from the non-profit CGC for consultant and other services in relation to the society鈥檚 Food Hub project on Beverly Street in North Cowichan on Vancouver Island.
The court found that shortly after he received the money, Whittle transferred the funds out of his company鈥檚 business account, which he controlled, and used it to pay for personal expenses, including a cross-Canada trip, surf lodges, motorsports, pet supplies, vaporizers, restaurants, pubs and liquor and cannabis purchases.
The court action started before it was revealed that Whittle had spent the funds on personal expenses.
The CGC filed a Notice of Civil Claim on May 26, 2023 against Whittle and his company for breach of the contract.
A Response to Civil Claim was filed on behalf of Whittle on July 25, 2023.
On Dec. 1, 2023, Justice Anthony Saunders made a freezing order against Whittle so that assets would be intact should a judgment not go in his favour.
In defiance of the freezing order, Whittle listed $47,479 worth of assets on Facebook Marketplace in early 2024, and in March, Associate Judge Carolyn Bouck ordered that the Response to Civil Claim be struck with respect to Whittle for the flouting of the freezing order.
A default judgment was entered through the registrar on April 5, with damages to be assessed.
The CGC sought $75,000 in punitive damages, as well as the return of the $100,800.
The Supreme Court said in its judgment that it agreed with the CGC that this is an appropriate case for a punitive damage award, and that the issue is aggravated by the fact that the victim is a non-profit charitable society given public funds, which it may now have trouble accessing again for its charitable purposes, and that the defendant responded to the action by seeking to dissipate his assets in breach of a court order.
But, citing legal precedent, the court decided that a 20 per cent punitive damages award would be proportionate in this case, and awarded punitive damages in the amount of $21,600.
As well as pre-judgment interest in the amount of $6,447, the total amount Whittle must pay the CGC is approximately $128,900.
The CGC has been in the process of constructing a food processing and innovation hub facility on the 1.37 hectare property on Beverly Street it is leasing from North Cowichan, and Whittle was contracted for services related to the project.
The society had obtained a commitment of more than $1 million in government grants for the construction.
CGC began in 2001 as an environmental-based community outreach project delivered under the auspices of the Green Door Society.
Since then, the organization has grown to become an important hub for sustainability in the Cowichan Valley, with a strong focus on food security.
CGC has already established farming initiatives and other programs, including an incubator seed farm and an agricultural equipment library, at the Beverly Street site.
The ongoing food processing and innovation hub project will see the construction of a 446 square-metre commercial building and associated works on the property.
