The B.C. Motor Vehicle Sales Authority has turned down a request to reconsider fines against the former principal of Northland Chrysler Jeep Dodge.
In August 2015, Brent Marshall was fined $3,550 after the MVSA found he had engaged in deceptive practices in relation to the sale of four used vehicles advertised in a flyer distributed to communities outside of Prince George in June 2013.
Marshall subsequently filed an application to reconsider and claimed his lawyer at the time of the original hearing was in a conflict of interest because he also represented Northland on the matter. Marshall claimed he was not properly represented as a consequence.
But in a decision released Jan. 12, MVSA registrar Ian Christman noted that the process's penalty phase was adjourned after Marshall declared his first lawyer may be in a conflict of interest and got a new one.
The adjournment lasted eight months to give Marshall's lawyer time to review the file, Christman said.
Marshall also claimed he had new evidence to bring to the matter, but Christman noted it includes communications over which Northland claims solicitor-client privilege.
Christman said he does not have the authority to compel its disclosure and, even if he did, the information was available during the original hearing and Marshall could have sought its admission before the penalty phase began.
Marshall, who no longer works at Northland, has also filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking an order to quash the MVSA's decision, largely on the same basis but also because the registrar allegedly erred in law by issuing a notice of penalty more than two years after the contravention.
The MVSA has not yet filed a response and the claims have not yet been tested in court.
