Convoy Organizers Denied Access to $200,000 for Legal Fees

Families join the Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa after police distributed arrest notices to truckers and their supporters occupying Wellington St. and the Parliament Hill area on Feb. 16, 2022. (Richard Moore/The Epoch Times)

Two organizers of the Freedom Convoy who wanted $200,000 from funds frozen by the court, and held in trust pending a class action lawsuit for honking during the Ottawa protest earlier this year, were turned down by a judge on Dec. 6.

Chris Garrah and Benjamin “BJ” Dichter argued at a hearing on Nov. 15 that they required access to some of the roughly $5 million of funds raised for truckers now held in escrow, to pay for upcoming legal fees.

Garrah and Dichter filed the court application to unfreeze funds, stating it was to defend against an ongoing roughly $306 million lawsuit brought by Zexi Lee, a 21-year-old federal government employee, and various Ottawa businesses that allege they were harmed by incessant honking, diesel fumes, and other disruption during the three-week protest in the nation’s capital earlier this year.

Garrah and Dichter are represented by lawyer Jim Karahalios, who was kicked out of the leadership race for the Conservative Party in 2020 by then-leader Erin O'Toole. The court heard that Karaholios wanted a $100,000 retainer from each of the men to represent them, and the convoy organizers said they had limited income and could not afford counsel.

Frozen Funds

Justice Calum MacLeod, in issuing his decision denying the release of frozen funds, said both men were self-employed and did not disclose enough information. “Mr. Dichter is a truck driver and a producer of podcasts,” said the judge. Garrah told the court he was a general contractor that earned $15,000 in income in 2021 selling windows and doors.

Freedom Convoy organizers (L–R) Chris Barber, Benjamin Dichter, and Tamara Lich speak at a press conference in Ottawa on Jan. 30, 2022. (Limin Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Dichter claimed roughly $10,000 in income in 2021 plus $7,000 in corporate net income. He said a broken foot sustained during the convoy kept him from working for six months earlier this year.

Both the men were part of bringing in money raised for the convoy, which was advertised as intended to be distributed to truckers to help pay for food, fuel, and lodging during the protest.

The judge denied the release of funds, saying neither of the men “have made the kind of frank financial disclosure that might be necessary” for the court to make a finding that getting access to the funds was the only way to afford legal counsel.

“Access to the frozen funds should not be granted lightly because it would effectively subject the frozen funds to the ‘death of a thousand cuts’ and would risk undoing the effect of the agreement reached between the parties,” MacLeod said in his decision.

The court also heard that the two convoy organizers had fallen out with the others involved in the convoy, such as Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, and were no longer on the Freedom Corporation board that was initially created to manage funds for the protest’s fundraising efforts, and as such were no longer able to use lawyers representing Freedom Corporation.

While other convoy organizers represented by lawyer Norman Groot did not oppose the order, he told the court the request for funds was premature.

The judge noted that Garrah and Dichter did not put forward “any kind of proposed bill of costs or litigation budget.” Instead, said the judge, the two men seemed to pick a number “based on the amount that was released to Mr. Groot’s firm as part of the agreement establishing the escrow fund.”

Falling Out

“Even if funds ought to be released, there is no justification for simply picking an amount out of the air without a legal budget,” stated the judge.

MacLeod also made a point of noting that the source of the millions in escrow was “entirely from the fundraising done to support the convoy and not from the personal assets of the defendants.”

“I am advised that while Mr. Garrah and Mr. Dichter along with Ms. Lich are still shown as directors of the corporation ... in fact these directors have now resigned from the board or have been removed. I am not privy to the details. Mr. Garrah and Mr. Dichter agree that they have been ‘kicked out’ of the corporation,” said MacLeod.

The judge also noted that lawyer Keith Wilson, who had originally acted for some of the convoy organizers, had ended up becoming a witness at the federal emergencies inquiry, and was likely going to end up a witness in the ongoing class action proceeding. The judge said the Freedom Convoy organizers “will shortly be seeking new counsel.”

The attorney general of Ontario had both criminal and civil lawyers for the province in court. The criminal counsel has requested funds raised by the convoy be forfeited and seized if certain organizers are criminally convicted at upcoming trials.

The civil counsel, meanwhile, has asked for civil forfeiture of the funds as damages when the lawsuit is resolved, and opposed Garrah and Dichter’s attempt to claim some of the money for legal fees.

The convoy board, which is made up of Tamara Lich, Chris Barber, Daniel Bulford, and others, has taken the position that all of the funds raised should revert to the corporation if they are ever released from escrow.