Vernon dentist Dr. Andrew Hokhold

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Hockhold Inc.

A Vernon dentist who is barred in BC from taking any more legal action against his former partner has instead tried to sue her in Saskatchewan.

According to a June 16 King's Bench for Saskatchewan decision, Andrew Nicholas Hokhold filed a suit in the prairie province alleging that his former partner "intentionally inflicted mental suffering" to cause him personal and financial harm.

However, the Saskatchewan court ruled it appeared he was just attempting to get around the rules imposed on him in BC.

"This lawsuit appears to be a collateral attack on decisions made or to be made in the BC Supreme Court," Justice T.J. Keene said in the decision.

Hokhold is continuing what is believed to be the longest-running custody battle in the history of the province and in 2017 he was declared a vexatious litigant. The label means he isn't allowed to take legal action against his former partner in BC without the court's permission.

Last year his limitations in BC were tightened even more when the BC Court of Appeal ruled he couldn't take legal action until he paid his court costs and child maintenance arrears, which in 2017 stood at $450,000.

He was once ordered to pay almost $17,000 a month in child support, although the number was later dropped to $4,200.

His former partner has accused him of having the means to pay but not doing so.

After filing dozens of court applications with thousands of pages of "largely incomprehensible" material, restrictions were put on Hokhold in BC limiting the amount of paperwork he could file in court to three pages.

His Saskatchewan filing was 36 pages long, which Justice Keene described as likely breaking the court's rules.

The dentist's legal battle with his former partner appears to have started after they split up in 2010 and ramped up in 2014 when he lost a custody battle and she took their two children to live in Saskatchewan.

Since then he's been jailed for 10 days for ignoring a court order, unnerved a judge so much with his behaviour he was reported to the RCMP, and filed court applications asking for the immediate arrest of his former partner. He was also once involved in a political party with millions in the bank but only two candidates with little involvement in politics.

A judge once described him as having a "scorched earth war" approach to litigation.

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According to the decision, the RCMP in Saskatchewan has opened and closed three files about Hokhold and he was once escorted off school premises by the RCMP.

He blames his ex-wife for these incidents accusing her of "public mischief” and "bogus victimhood."

Justice Keene said Hokhold's lawsuit is a continuation of unsuccessful legal actions in BC.

"In my view, the litigation should be appropriately limited by sticking to the British Columbia court system and not widening much of the same litigation into Saskatchewan," the Justice said.

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Ultimately, the justice ordered that the case be dismissed in Saskatchewan and transferred to BC.

As Hokhold needs permission to take legal action in BC, it's unclear what will happen now the case has been transferred here.

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