Days after police entered the Hells Angels' clubhouses in Kelowna, Nanaimo and East Vancouver to begin seizure proceedings, the club is looking to appeal the case with Canada's top court.
According to reporting by the Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan, lawyers for the Hells Angels filed an application with the Supreme Court of Canada on Monday, seeking an appeal of the BC Court of Appeal decision from earlier this year that ruled in favour of the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office.
The Supreme Court of Canada must first agree to hear the appeal before the case proceeds.
The matter has been winding its way through the court since the B.C. government first began its efforts to seize the Hells Angels Nanaimo clubhouse in 2007, a year after the Civil Forfeiture Act became law in B.C.
In August 2012, police raided the club's Kelowna clubhouse and the province began forfeiture proceedings against it and the Hells Angels' East Vancouver clubhouse several months later.
The government alleged the clubhouses would be used in the future to carry out criminal activity.
The properties have continued to be used by the Hells Angels, although the assets have been frozen since 2016.
In 2020, Justice Barry Davies finally ruled in favour of the Hells Angels, and found the province did not have the authority to seize property based on possible crimes that could be committed in the future.
But this past February, more than two and a half years after Justice Davies decision, the BC Court of Appeal overturned Justice Davies decision and ruled in favour of the seizure of the three properties.
On April 14, police in Kelowna, Nanaimo and East Vancouver entered the three properties to do inventory inside and begin the seizure proceedings.
It's not clear if a possible appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada may delay the government's seizure of the properties.
