BURST
The forfeiture of a Mission house to the province years ago, after police alleged it was used as a marijuana grow-op, was just the start of woes for one of the house’s owners.
More than 10 years after the house was lost to B.C.’s civil forfeiture office as an alleged instrument of unlawful activity , John Krist is facing a $300,000 bill from the province. It’s for storage fees for belongings he refused to collect for over 12 years.
But that is a rounding error for what Krist claims was his bigger loss, according to a decision in B.C. Supreme Court that orders Krist pay the forfeiture office’s storage costs.
He said in his own 2015 lawsuit that among his belongings moved from the house by the government to three shipping containers in 2012, after the house was seized, were 1,620 ounces of gold and 2,500 ounces of silver. The precious metals in court documents were valued at $2.3 million and by today’s prices are worth over $9 million.
Krist says in the lawsuit first filed against the province in 2015 that the precious metals had disappeared and that he’s also out stamp and coin collections and a Dodge Aries .
But evidence as to whether those valuables even existed was never presented to a judge before the 2015 lawsuit was tossed out in 2024 for what the courts call “want of prosecution” caused by “inordinate” and “excessive” delays stretching over years.
Why then were Krist’s belongings kept for so long, racking up storage fees, when neither he nor the government appeared to want them?
Krist told court he had not wanted to take back his belongings or have them destroyed because he believed that would weaken his case for what one judge had called the “more serious claims” that the province destroyed or lost his gold and silver.
And the forfeiture office told the court it was required to store the items in case needed as evidence in Krist’s lawsuit claiming damages for loss of his belongings, including the 117 kilograms of precious metals.
A decision on costs by Justice John Bilawich this week recounts Krist’s repeated failed attempts over the years to have the courts compensate him for the loss of his share of the Mission house and his metals, and tells him it’s time to pay the storage bill.
The court challenges date to 2011 when the forfeiture lawsuit for the house was filed against Krist’s former wife, whose name was on the title, and others with an interest in the property, alleging it was used as early as 2008 as a grow-op.
Krist was charged in the grow-op operation — court records years ago show a charge of excessive use of electricity against him — but he was acquitted in 2023, according to court documents.
Among his past court challenges was the 2015 lawsuit. It alleged the province was negligent and violated his Charter rights for not including his name on the forfeiture notice so he could fight it.
But Krist did nothing to advance that lawsuit except for one updated claim in 2018 and a judge ruled in 2024 that wasn’t enough.
The judge said witnesses were no longer available, evidence had been lost and a “burden of unresolved scandalous allegations of malice” still hung over government officials for the alleged improper handling of Krist’s belongings.
Plus the storage costs dating to 2012 remained unpaid.
Krist’s argument that he needed more time to collect evidence was dismissed and the 2024 judge noted he had not proven to the courts that his losses were caused by the province.
That judge ruled Krist had abandoned his belongings and the province could sell them to pay down his debt and its court costs.
Krist’s demand for damages for the claimed gold and silver was thrown out at the same time.
In the more recent hearing to settle court costs with the province, Krist conceded some of them but disagreed with the forfeiture office’s $566,000 estimate for storage. The deduction of the $18,000 it had received through sale of Krist’s items brought the province’s ask to $548,000.
Bilawich partly agreed, ruling that $3,000 a month was reasonable for storage costs. After deducting the money received from the items’ sale, that leaves Krist owing $299,850.16.