A handful of B.C men have been ordered to pay tens-of-thousands of dollars in damages after a judge found them liable for participating in a scheme that saw stolen vehicles resold on the market.
According to court documents posted on the B.C. Supreme Court this week, the scheme dates back to 2002.
Specifically, the case centred around allegations that the stolen or fraudulently acquired vehicles were given new identification numbers and issued with false registration documents from Alberta before they were transferred to unwitting or complicit B.C. residents and sold to third parties, state court documents.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin F. Cullen found 10 individuals and one company liable for tens-of-thousands of dollars in damages.
"I am satisfied that the combinations of special and punitive damages that I have awarded is adequate to deter and denounce the behaviour giving rise to these actions."
Cullen said Insurance Corporation of B.C. and the public, through the police, expended a significant amount of money, effort and time during the investigation and recovery of the vehicles.
He said it's clear ICBC will not recover its costs.
ICBC announced in a media statement that the case involves two civil actions out of five civil actions against 89 defendants.
ICBC said it was awarded $293,395 in damages and costs after the B.C. Supreme Court heard the first civil action in 2010.
The fourth and fifth phases are expected go to trial this November.
