Vacations, meals, booze: Contractor used $100K of charity's money for personal expenses, B.C. court finds

Canadian cash is shown. (Shutterstock.com)

A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.

The decision in the case was handed down last month, with the judge's ruling posted online Wednesday.

Cowichan Green Community Society, the decision says, raised over a million dollars in government grants in order to construct a building in Duncan that would function as a food hub where local farmers could process and distribute food. It would also serve as a base for "services, research and education related to its mandate" of improving food security.

The charity contracted Christopher Patrick Whittle for consulting and construction services and paid the companies of which he was the sole proprietor three deposits totalling $108,000.

"Shortly after he received the deposits, Mr. Whittle transferred the money out of the business account of the corporate defendant, which he controlled," Justice Gareth Morley wrote.

"He used the deposit money to pay for personal expenses, including a cross-Canada trip, surf lodges, motorsports, pet supplies, vaporizers, restaurants, pubs and liquor and cannabis purchases."

The non-profit sued Whittle and the corporate defendants for breach of contract in May of 2023, "before it was revealed that Mr. Whittle had spent the deposit funds on personal expenses," the decision said.

While the judge does not say when this came to light, he does note that another judge issued an order freezing Whittle's assets in December of last year. Whittle defied that order by listing nearly $50,000 worth of his assets on Facebook Marketplace.

That "flouting" of the order resulted in a judge ordering a default judgment be entered against Whittle in the case, striking his response to the charity's civil claim and finding him liable for damages for both breach of trust and unjust enrichment.

Morley said the question of damages – in part – had an "obvious" answer, and ordered an award of $108,000 in compensatory damages, equivalent to the deposits.

"These amounts were paid, and they were not returned when they should have been," the judge said.

The charity was also seeking $70,000 in punitive damages, which the judge found was too high in the circumstances – but Morley did say the case was one where some amount of punitive damages should be awarded.

"Misappropriating a deposit and using it for personal expenses unconnected to the purpose for which it was advanced is the kind of conduct that warrants retribution and denunciation," he said.

"There is a risk that a purely compensatory award will not adequately deter the wrongdoer and will not express society’s denunciation or proportionate retribution for the conduct, since the defendant loses nothing and the plaintiff is put to the expense of recovering the money."

The fact that the funds were public and that Whittle breached a court order by trying to "dissipate" his assets were considered aggravating. Morley awarded punitive damages of $21,600.

Whittle did not appear when the judgment was handed down. However, the judge said his conduct during the litigation had been "reprehensible," and awarded the non-profit special costs in the case on those grounds. Special costs, generally, are meant to substantially cover what the successful party spent on the lawsuit.