A recent court case presented to the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal saw a roommate agreement turn bitter when one man alleged his belongings were taken.
Vemy Barthelemy Fofana rented a room from Rick Plewes in September 2022 and paid a deposit before moving in some of his belongings. Fofana then left town for several days and told the court that when he returned at the end of the month, he was not let into the house, and his belongings were kept from him.
However, Plewes shared a different version of events.
According to the court, Plewes refused to let Fofana back into the house because he had not paid rent. The two roommates soon texted back and forth to arrange the return of Fofana’s belongings, and Plewes said he would load them into an Uber or taxi if Fofana ordered one.
Fofana instead asked the police to retrieve his items, and an officer, identified as Constable G by the court, came to collect his items the following month.
Constable G and Plewes loaded the items into the police vehicle while Fofana waited at a Skytrain station to collect the belongings. However, according to the court, when the police officer called Fofana to collect his items, he refused to pick them up.
Constable G then told him to pick up the items, or else he would return them to Plewes to be thrown away.
That’s exactly what the officer did.
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Constable G returned Fofana’s belongings to Plewes, who donated everything to Value Village.
Fofana tried to argue to the court that Plewes instead kept his items. Therefore, he filed a claim for the maximum amount of $5,000 for his belongings.
The court decided against Fofana’s claim, sharing that there was no evidence of Plewes keeping his belongings. Additionally, the court said it was reasonable for Plewes to donate his items as Fofana had refused to collect them and had been warned about the donation if he did not pick them up.
With the dismissal of the claim, the court also shared that it would not have awarded the full amount in any event because no evidence was provided about the missing items and their value.
To read the full decision, click here.