Warren Zant in a photo posted to his new wife's Instagram account Oct. 3, 2021. His representatives tried to convince the court he is mentally incompetent — and in a mental institution in Mexico.
Image Credit: Instagram
July 30, 2023 - 7:00 PM
BC's highest court tossed a Kamloops man's attempt to deny his ex-wife pension benefits when he tried to appeal a previous decision, again under suspicious circumstances.
Warren Thomas Zant was previously denied his attempt to annul his marriage to Gina Elizabeth Zant in November. The court found the person purporting to be Gina Zant during a telephone hearing was, in fact, an imposter amid a string of lies.
He was represented by four people this time as they tried to take the decision up with the BC Court of Appeal in June.
Warren Zant, however, wasn't there for the appeal and four people from Mexico instead represented him on the phone, according to a recently published decision.
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Yvonne Venter, who claimed to be his power of attorney, said Warren Zant was "incapable" of acting on his own behalf. Venter, who is in Mexico, claimed to be a lawyer in an affidavit, but there is no evidence that is true, according to the decision.
Another man, Wessel du Plessis, described himself as Zant's "appointed litigator" and is the brother of Zant's new wife Maryna du Plessis. He delivered falsified documents as evidence as he tried to convince the court he would represent Zant.
One of those fake documents was a letter purported to be from BC's Public Guardian and Trustee, used in an attempt to prove Warren Zant was incapable of representing himself.
"We did appoint Mr. Wessel H.M. du Plessis as a litigator for Mr. Warren Zant. He does not need to live in BC to be able to litigate for Mr. Zant," the letter read.
The woman who was purported to write the letter denied that she had.
"I have completed a review of Warren Zant’s court situation. He filed the family notification that the judge claim is not on file. It is not on file because the registry rejected it for the following reasons: THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE ATTACHED IS UNCERTIFIED, UNAPOSTOLIC AND FOREIGN, theirfore (sic), the registry cant accept the marriage certificate. Please file an application before a judge for the guidance of the judge," it continued.
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Justice Peter Wilcock not only mentioned the supposed letter-writer's denial, but he noted it is "unlike anything one would expect" from a Public Trustee lawyer.
Wilcock said there was "no admissable evidence" the four people presented to the court and he wasn't clear whether Warren Zant even wanted the appeal to proceed.
Warren Zant did not appear in the hearing and it's not clear whether he is capable of representing himself.
He and all four people representing him are in Mexico, according to court documents.
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The last time this bizarre situation was in court, there was no penalty for the shady applications, but Zant isn't so lucky this time.
Wilcock decided Zant and the people representing him will pay special costs, after having reviewed falsified evidence they submitted all in an attempt to deny his ex-wife Gina of his pension.
The lawyer for the pension plan tried to have Warren Zant and the others declared vexatious litigants, barring them from launching future claims in civil court without permission. Wilcock decided their "outrageous" behaviour warranted "rebuke," but it was not yet appropriate to make a vexatious litigant order.
It's unclear how much the special costs were.
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