Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• The plaintiff's 2025 Notice of Civil Claim represents his third collateral attack on earlier court orders relating to a strata dispute and court-ordered sale of his property.

• Allegations of judicial bias were dismissed as the plaintiff failed to provide any evidentiary basis or serious grounds to displace the presumption of impartiality.

• Claims in the 2025 NOCC were found to be largely duplicative of the 2022 NOCC, which had already been struck by Justice Blake as an abuse of process.

• Inflammatory allegations of fraud, perjury, and professional misconduct against opposing counsel lacked required particularity and were deemed scandalous and vexatious.

• Multiple special costs awards against the plaintiff had failed to deter his persistent relitigation of previously decided matters.

• A vexatious litigant order was warranted given the plaintiff's habitual pattern of bringing groundless proceedings without reasonable cause.

Background of the strata dispute

Jasar Ajvazi (also known as Richard Gibson) was the former owner of strata unit #218-6560 Buswell Street in Richmond, British Columbia. The underlying dispute between Mr. Ajvazi and the building's strata corporation dates back to 2015 and arose from unauthorized renovations he made to the unit. This resulted in a 2018 small claims judgment of $5,536.96 against him, a bylaw enforcement conviction by the City of Richmond, and ultimately a court-ordered sale of his strata unit in 2021 following his failure to redeem the amount outstanding.

Prior litigation history

Mr. Ajvazi's first collateral attack on the earlier orders was a petition commenced on February 1, 2022 seeking to challenge the small claims order, bylaw conviction, sale order, and costs assessment, which was dismissed by consent after the Strata Corporation filed an application to strike and sought a vexatious litigant order. His second collateral attack was a Notice of Civil Claim commenced on October 3, 2022 against the same defendants, which Justice Blake struck in its entirety as an abuse of process in Ajvazi v. Century 21 Prudential Estates (RMD) Ltd., 2024 BCSC 276, without leave to amend. Justice Blake found the pleading fundamentally sought to relitigate matters already finally determined and awarded special costs of $3,000 to the Law Corporation and $3,000 to the City of Richmond. Mr. Ajvazi appealed that decision, but the appeal was dismissed as abandoned by Justice Abrioux on January 17, 2025.

The current proceeding and bias allegation

Despite these rulings, Mr. Ajvazi filed a new Notice of Civil Claim on April 24, 2025 against the same defendants (with the exception that the City of Richmond and Mayor of Richmond were dropped). At the outset of the hearing, he alleged that Justice Taylor was biased and should recuse herself, apparently based on an order she issued in chambers on June 16, 2025, when she adjourned the defendants' motion to strike and stayed the proceeding to give him the opportunity to make submissions in person. The court found this bias application without merit, noting Mr. Ajvazi failed to reference any specific evidence or clearly articulate the nature of the alleged bias. The court observed that Mr. Ajvazi had a track record of taking the position that any judge who makes a decision adverse to his interest is biased, including Justice Blake and Justice Kent in prior proceedings, and that his courtroom conduct was disruptive and disrespectful.

Application to strike the 2025 claim

The defendants applied to strike the 2025 NOCC under Rule 9-5(1). The court found there were many obvious commonalities between the two pleadings, describing the 2025 NOCC as "merely a reheated version of the 2022 NOCC." It contained the same denials regarding unauthorized renovations, challenges to the legitimacy of the small claims judgment and lien, objections to the sale order and costs assessment, and allegations of misconduct against opposing counsel. Mr. Ajvazi was unable to identify a single material difference between the two pleadings when asked during the hearing. The court held that the 2025 NOCC constituted an abuse of process as it attempted to collaterally attack and relitigate issues previously determined, and struck it without leave to amend, as allowing amendment would violate principles of judicial economy, consistency, and finality.

Vexatious litigant declaration

The court granted a declaration that Mr. Ajvazi is a vexatious litigant under Section 18 of the Supreme Court Act. All characteristics of vexatious litigation outlined in Holland v. Marshall, 2010 BCSC 1560 were present: bringing actions to decide issues already determined by courts; pursuing claims obvious to fail; actions brought for improper purposes including harassment of defendants; rolling forward grounds and issues into subsequent actions; failure to pay costs from unsuccessful proceedings; and persistently taking unsuccessful appeals. Mr. Ajvazi had advised counsel for MC Law Corp immediately before the hearing that he would pursue further legal remedies regardless of the outcome, and also advised the court he intended to appeal because he believed the outcome was predetermined due to bias. The court issued an order prohibiting Mr. Ajvazi from instituting any legal proceedings relating to the strata unit, any claims from the prior proceedings, or any proceedings against the defendants or their counsel, without leave of a justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Ruling and costs awarded

The court struck the 2025 NOCC in its entirety without leave to amend and dismissed the action. Justice Taylor ordered lump sum special costs of $5,000 payable to MC Law Corp, in addition to $5,000 to be split evenly between the other defendants, to be paid forthwith. The court noted that the prior special costs order from Justice Blake had not served as a sufficient deterrent given that Mr. Ajvazi subsequently filed the 2025 NOCC and failed to pay the special costs order, necessitating a further rebuke. The requirement for Mr. Ajvazi's signature on the order was dispensed with.