A moving company has mostly won its case against a woman who sued it after it missed a Victoria-area ferry and also threatened to “dump” her items, according to a decision by the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal.
Tamara Gorski hired Micro Logistics Group Inc. to move her from Vancouver Island to Vancouver, said the tribunal decision.
“Ms. Gorski says Micro was responsible for missing a ferry, leading to a higher charge,” reads the decision. “She says Micro did not move all her items, so she had to finish moving the rest herself. She says she suffered mental distress as a result of Micro’s incomplete move. That said, she acknowledges she owes Micro some amount for the work it did. Finally, Ms. Gorski alleges Micro performed an unconscionable act under the Business Practice and Consumer Protection Act (BPCPA).”
Gorski was claiming $1,100 in costs and $3,300 in damages. Micro filed a counterclaim and was seeking more than $1,700.
One issue that arose was that Micro arrived at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal too late for a ferry so it had to take a different ferry two hours later, making it unable to reach a storage business before it closed that day, said the tribunal decision. Micro held Gorski’s items overnight.
“Ms. Gorski argues Micro did not properly plan its route or itinerary so should be responsible for the additional time caused by missing the 3:00 pm ferry,” read the decision.
But the decision also found that Gorski had “numerous large and bulky items that were not listed in her inventory. (Micro) says it didn’t know Ms. Gorski had three full storage units. Ms. Gorski blames Micro for not asking for photographs or dimensions of the storage lockers. She does not explain why she provided an incomplete and inaccurate inventory or did not fully pack her items.”
The tribunal blamed Gorski for Micro missing the ferry.
“I find Ms. Gorski’s incomplete and inaccurate inventory and her failure to properly pack her items added at least 30 minutes to the move,” the decision said. “So, I find under the parties’ contract, she is responsible for the additional time added by the missed ferry.”
Gorski sued for additional costs because Micro didn’t take all of her items, but the tribunal decision said that was because of her incomplete inventory.
Gorski said she suffered mental distress partly because Micro threatened to “dump” her items instead of keeping them overnight.
“If we don’t hear back from someone and the storage is not open (we) will have to take everything to dump station as we don’t (have) storage units (of) our own,” reads a text message Micro sent to Gorski, according to the tribunal decision.
“I find the text message threatening to dump Ms. Gorski’s items deprived Ms. Gorski of the psychological benefit of hiring movers by creating the very stress the contract was designed to lessen,” said the tribunal decision. “On a judgment basis, I award $100 to Ms. Gorski for mental distress.”
So Gorski received $100, but Micro was awarded $1,630.51.
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