R. v. Greenslades Northern Welding Ltd. – FCt: Respondent guilty of contempt but penalty held in abeyance

Bill Innes on Current Tax Cases

http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/98120/index.do New Window

Canada (National Revenue) v. Greenslades Northern Welding Ltd. (September 18, 2014 – 2014 FC 904) was a contempt proceeding arising out of a failure to comply with a prior court order requiring the delivery of property to an auctioneer:

[4] The June 3 Order required that the Respondent deliver up the demanded assets to Graham Auctions by June 30, 2014.

[5] There is no dispute that none of the demanded assets was delivered up as ordered, either by June 30, 2014 or subsequently. There is also no dispute that the Respondent and Mr. Greenslade were aware of the June 3 Order.

The court found that the Respondent was guilty of contempt:

[8] Having heard the evidence, there is no doubt that the Respondent knew of the June 3 Order and took no steps to comply with it. In fact, rather than deliver up the demanded assets, Mr. Greenslade, on behalf of the Respondent, acted in contravention of the Order by arranging the sale of at least one of the demanded assets, the 2006 Case 430 (point (v) above), to a third party. In my opinion, the Respondent’s failure to comply with the June 3 Order was either deliberate or with serious indifference.

[9] The Respondent asserts a number of excuses for failing to comply with the June 3 Order. None of them is satisfactory.

Nevertheless the court suspended a determination of both the appropriate penalty and costs:

[18] Though I heard some submissions on penalty at the hearing, I will defer ruling on the penalty for now. At the hearing the parties appeared to be in agreement that the appropriate penalty would depend on future events, such as whether the Respondent commences promptly making efforts to comply with the June 3 Order and whether the CRA obtains proceeds from the foreclosure sale discussed during the hearing.

[19] I will likewise defer ruling on costs associated with the hearing and with the motion for the show cause order.

Thus the court appears to have, in effect, given the Respondent a chance to purge its contempt by future compliance with the original order.