Nearly 10 years after a jewel-encrusted solid gold sculpture of an eagle was allegedly stolen in one of Metro Vancouver’s most bizarre and high-profile crimes, the legal fallout is still winding its way through B.C. courts.
Late last month, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that a lawsuit against companies insuring the so-called “Maltese Eagle” and a second, silver eagle that was allegedly stolen with it, can go ahead — despite six-and-half years of “inordinate and inexcusable” delays.
The eagle was allegedly stolen on May 29, 2016, in Ladner, B.C., not long after being put on display at an art showcase at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Ron Shore, who had the eagles crafted as a part of an elaborate treasure hunt designed to raise money for breast cancer research, claims he had the sculptures in a backpack he was placing into his car when he was attacked by two masked men.
“One of the people who did this to me hit me very firmly and very squarely on the top of my head,” he told media at the time.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but at the moment of impact, there was a great deal of blood coming out of my head.”
Shore has variously valued the sculpture, which was encrusted with hundreds of diamonds and a 12.7-carat emerald found in a shipwreck off the coast of Florida, at between $5 million and $9 million.
The January ruling, however, pegs its value at $1 million.
At the time of the theft, Shore told the media he had put everything he owned into crafting the eagle, including the mortgage on his house.
Shore’s company Forgotten Treasures International moved to sue insurers Lloyds Underwriters and Endeavour Insurance Services Limited along with broker HUB International in 2018, two years after the insurers denied his claim over the alleged theft.
The insurance companies alleged Shore had violated the terms of his insurance by not having a second person with him while the eagle was in transit, a claim Shore denied.
The case, however, never moved to trial, and the defendants eventually moved to have it dismissed.
The judgment lays out years of legal wrangling over the matter, including a default judgment Forgotten Treasures secured and which was later thrown out.
“Of the roughly two-and-a-half years following the commencement of the claim, two years was wasted on the plaintiff’s imprudent taking of default judgment and subsequent misguided attempts to preserve it,” Justice Lisa Warren noted.
Warren, however, also noted the defendants had done little to push the case forward.
In the end, she found it was still in the “interests of justice” to allow Shore and his company to proceed.
“Recognizing the importance of a plaintiff’s interest in a trial on the merits, I have decided that there is not enough to tip the balance in favour of dismissal, although this was a close call,” she ruled.
“I have somewhat reluctantly concluded that it is in the interests of justice to allow the claim to proceed.”
The ultimate fate of the eagle, meanwhile, remains unknown.