Three individual Plaintiffs (the “Debtors”) used the services of “UnitedWeStandPeople” (“UWSP”), a money-for-nothing / debt elimination scam, to advance illegal and abusive defences called “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments” (“OPCA”). These defences are intended to block debt collection by lenders and retaliate against them for alleged bad conduct. The OPCAs also take the position that the debts in question purportedly do not exist.

The Debtors were asked to make submissions as to why they should not be required to make payments of security for costs pursuant to Rule 4.22. They failed to do so by the prescribed deadline, and they did not pay the security for costs. As a result, their claims and defences were struck out, costs were imposed, and they were asked to make submissions as to why they should not be subject to penalties pursuant to Rule 10.49. The Debtors did not make such submissions. The Court therefore proceeded to determine whether the Debtors should be subject to penalties for misuse of Court processes, pursuant to Rule 10.49(1).

Associate Chief Justice Nielsen began by noting that the law is very clear in Canada that OPCA defences “are consistently rejected and classified as abusive strategies, marketed by unscrupulous people”.

In review of the Action, the Court concluded that the Debtors’ litigation had interfered with the proper and efficient administration of justice. The Debtors were given the opportunity to establish that they had engaged in this litigation in good faith, as fair-dealing litigants. They chose not to take that opportunity, leading to the inference that their steps did not have a legitimate purpose. The Court ordered each of the Debtors to pay a $5,000 penalty, pursuant to Rule 10.49(1). The Court stressed that this was not a debt owed to the Court, but a penalty due to the Province of Alberta for the Debtors wasting state and taxpayer resources in their improper attempts to apply a money-for-nothing / debt elimination scheme. The Court further imposed a penalty of $10,000 on the organizers of UWSP.