Judge orders special costs after finding Maple Ridge A&W business dispute built on ‘outright lies’

A bitter dispute over ownership stakes in family-run A&W franchises tied to Maple Ridge has ended with a BC Supreme Court judge ordering one brother to pay special costs after finding he repeatedly lied and fabricated evidence during years of litigation.

In a May 5 ruling, Justice Bill Basran ordered Vern Phaneuf to pay his brothers, Norman and Bradley Phaneuf, over his conduct during the legal battle over the ownership agreement.

The judge sharply criticized Vern’s actions, concluding he attempted to exploit what the court described as an “obvious” corporate drafting mistake to claim profits he was never intended to receive from two companies operating A&W franchises, with two locations in Maple Ridge.

“Vern demonstrated a deliberate and conscious disregard for the truth and the integrity of the judicial process,” Basran said. “He stubbornly clung to these false, implausible narratives, and outright lies, over four years of this unnecessary litigation.”

The dispute centred on two companies – 0896459 B.C. Ltd. and Fremont Developments Ltd. – established to operate A&W franchise expansion opportunities. According to the court, brothers Norman and Bradley Phaneuf were meant to each hold 40 percent ownership interests, while brothers Vern and Terry Phaneuf would each hold 10 percent stakes.

However, corporate articles drafted by Vern mistakenly identified the majority Class A shares held by Norman and Bradley as “non-participating,” meaning they technically would not receive dividends or proceeds if the companies were dissolved. Meanwhile, the minority Class B shares held by Vern and Terry were listed as “participating.”

Basran had already ruled in August 2025 that the corporate documents should be rectified to reflect the intended ownership arrangement.

In that earlier decision, the judge found the issue should have been resolved years earlier through a simple correction rather than escalating into lengthy litigation.

Instead, the judge said Vern attempted to leverage the error for personal financial gain.

“The consequence of this error, if allowed to stand, is that Vern and Terry would be entitled to receive 100 percent of the profit which was created by Norman’s and Bradley’s successful entrepreneurial efforts,” the ruling stated.

The court found the relationship between the brothers deteriorated around 2014 or 2015, partly following disputes involving ownership of other family businesses, including West Coast Investments Ltd., which owned the East Maple Ridge and Haney Place Mall A&W locations.

According to the court, Vern later became “jealous and bitter” over his smaller ownership share and sought a greater portion of what he considered the “family businesses.”

The judge’s criticism of Vern’s courtroom conduct was blunt.

Among the findings summarized in the latest ruling, Basran said Vern “lied repeatedly and unrelentingly,” advanced evidence that was “irrational, self-interested, and a seeming product of his imagination,” and promoted what the judge called a “fiction unsupported by any documents or logic.”

The court also found Vern deliberately misled the court about his role in incorporating one of the companies and fabricating evidence intended to support his claims.

“I have no difficulty in concluding that Vern is liable to pay special costs,” Basran wrote. “He falsified and fabricated evidence that was intended to mislead the Court and deprive his brothers of substantial profits.”

Special costs are awarded only in exceptional circumstances and are intended to punish and deter reprehensible conduct during litigation.

The judge ordered that Norman and Bradley Phaneuf are entitled to recover their actual legal costs and disbursements from Vern, with the amounts to be assessed by the court registrar.