We see this offence quite often in Bruce County’ Provincial Offences Court.
A decision was just released by Justice Quon on this issue- he is one of the most published of all Ontario’s Justices of the Peace. We will call this the Cordoba case, as that is the name of the fellow charged.
Cordoba had a one person corporation- i.e he was the sole shareholder. That corporation was the registered owner of the vehicle in question. The police stopped the vehicle which was being driven by Mr. Cordoba. There was no insurance. The police issued the ticket to Mr. Cordoba.
Mr. Cordoba admitted that he and his corporation shared the same address.
Mr. Cordoba’s defence was simple- he did not own the vehicle, his corporation did.
Now the Ontario Court of Appeal 20 years ago had interpreted “owner” in a broad way that could include someone like Mr Cordoba if certain facts were proven, i.e. if it was proven he was an officer or director of the company and or if he admitted to having sole control of the vehicle.
The prosecution did not have that evidence in this case and thus the charge was dismissed.
It will be interesting to see if busy prosecutors in the future, when confronted with this situation, will order corporate searches to show whether the person stopped is an officer or director of the company. It will also be interesting to see if police officers ask such motorists if anyone else drives the vehicle.