Image Credit: FACEBOOK / A&W Canada

A BC judge has called a banker "dishonest, entitled, ungrateful, and jealous" in a dispute with siblings over the ownership of an A&W franchise.

BC Supreme Court Justice Jasvinder Basran said that portfolio manager Vern Phaneuf "repeatedly and unrelentingly" lied during his testimony in an attempt to get money from his brothers.

"He also maintains a puzzling and entirely unsubstantiated superiority complex that drove him to pointlessly prolong this largely unnecessary litigation," the Justice said.

The details are laid out in an Aug. 7 BC Supreme Court decision, which saw Vern at loggerheads with his three siblings, Norman and Bradley Phaneuf and Elaine Spencer.

The decision said some members of the family own A&W franchises in Maple Ridge after their parents, Norman and Irene Phaneuf, opened their first fast-food restaurant in the mid-1980s.

Vern became an investment advisor and now works for CIBC Wood Gundy, while his two brothers got involved in the A&W franchises.

In 2010, A&W offered Norman and Bradley the opportunity to open up to three restaurants in a specific area. Norman and Bradley offered both Vern and their late brother Terry a 10% interest in the project, on the basis that they would each keep a 40% interest.

Norman and Bradley were to have "Class A" shares, with Vern and Terry having "Class B" shares.

Vern drafted the documents, but "mistakenly" referred to the Class A shares as "non-participating." The error meant that the holders of the shares, Norman and Bradley, weren't entitled to the payment of dividends or a share in the proceeds of the assets if the companies were wound up.

The mistake could have been easily rectified but wasn't.

"Instead, Vern has tried to leverage a simple and obvious mistake in the articles of the Companies both to obtain an entirely unearned and undeserved share of the hard-earned successes of Norman and Bradley, and to litigate longstanding grievances against Norman, Bradley, their mother, Irene, and other family members," the Justice said.

Their sister Elaine, who is an accountant, tried to mediate and resolve the dispute but was unsuccessful.

"Primarily because Vern unreasonably, and persistently, refused to agree to rectify the obvious error," the Judge said.

The matter went to court and a 13-day trial, and the Justice came down heavily on Vern.

Vern argued that the share structure was purposely set up that way.

Justice Basran didn't buy it, saying Vern had "fabricated" his narrative to take advantage of the mistake in an attempt to benefit himself.

"Virtually every element of his evidence lacked truth, clarity, and logic," the Justice said.

He denied creating or modifying the documents, but then agreed that the metadata of the document revealed that his assistant at CIBC had done it.

"He provided no rational explanation for this inconsistency, presumably because none exists," the Justice said.

"I find that it defies all logic and credulity to believe that Norman and Bradley would invest heavily and work tirelessly in businesses they had no ownership interest in. Vern’s assertions that this was the agreement between the brothers is irrational, self-interested, and a seeming product of his imagination. Neither the evidence nor commercial common sense supports such an assertion," Justice Basran said.

The Justice rejected that the share structure was deliberately set up in the way it had been and berated Vern at almost every opportunity saying he'd created a "web of incoherent lies" to advance his goal.

"I find that an ill-conceived combination of entitlement and jealousy, which were on full display during Vern’s testimony at trial, drove him to seek an entirely unearned and unwarranted piece of Norman’s and Bradley’s successes. This Court will not entertain such a ludicrous misadventure," the Justice said.

The Justice ordered the paperwork to be corrected and awarded costs to the brothers.

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