A BC judge has found two real estate developers in contempt of court for not paying $50,000 of legal fees.

BC Supreme Court Justice Emily Burke said Odin Zavier and Thane Lanz had the means to pay the court-ordered costs and had “intentionally failed” to pay them.

The Justice gave Burke and Zavier 65 days to pay the legal fees, which have accumulated during the two parties’ 12-year-long legal battle over an investment in a Vernon condo development.

The decision also named Randall Rogiani, Eduardo Soto, Gary Mythen, Sacha Elez, Burt Petersen, Charlene Petersen, Fan Jin, Gordon Lemon, Doris Lanz, Joseph Lanz, the owners of Strata Plan KAS 1886, and the tenants.

Over the last five years, Zavier and Lanz have been ordered to pay the legal costs to their former business partner, Rene Gauthier, and his company SWS Marketing, having lost numerous legal challenges.

However, on five occasions the pair have failed to pay and now owe $50,373.

In a Sept. 2 BC Supreme Court decision, Justice Burke said there was nothing that indicated the bills would be paid and they’d purposely failed to follow the court order.

“I find that (Zavier and Lanz) had the ability to pay the amount ordered,” the Justice said. “It collects the rents and manages the units and these funds could be used to pay the $50,373.71 court ordered costs.”

The Justice also said Zavier and Lanz had $25,000 to pay a contempt of court security deposit in 2021.

She also pointed out that the developers had the money to pay their lawyer to continue the litigation.

While Justice Burke gave Zavier and Lanz 65 days to pay, she didn’t rule on what repercussions there would be if they didn’t settle the debt.

While suing over money is common practice, it’s rare to see people found in contempt of court for not paying their legal fees.

The case dates back to 2008 when Gauthier, Zavier, and Lanz formed SWS Marketing to start a business in real estate investment.

In 2010, they found 14 units spread over two buildings on 24 Avenue in Vernon and paid $1.6 million for them.

They looked for investors and sold it as a low-risk, low-stress, hands-off deal.

However, it didn’t work out that way.

In 2013, a dispute between Gauthier and Zavier “boiled over,” and Lanz sided with Zavier. The falling out between the business partners led to a legal battle described as “convoluted” and “tortured.”

At one point, two separate strata corporations were created, and owners paid fees to the one they preferred. The opposition strata council then sent demand letters asking for payment.

In a 2022 trial, the Justice described both sides as being both “evasive, obstructive and dishonest.” There were accusations of forged signatures and disagreements over money.

Last December, the court ordered that the units could be sold individually, but put a temporary hold on the ruling as rezoning might make it more advantageous for the condos to be sold together.

Justice Burke’s ruling now leaves the defendants on the hook for the legal fees for the latest hearing as well.