Surrey judge finds worker not on hook for $25K of company equipment vanished from his trunk
A Surrey provincial court judge has ruled that a worker is not financially responsible for more than $25,000 worth of company equipment that went missing from the trunk of his car earlier this year.
CDN Coast Health & Home Solutions Inc. had filed a civil claim against its safety advisor, Harpreet Thind, seeking damages for the loss of specialized fire safety demonstration and installation kits. The case was heard by Judge Michael Libby, who issued his decision on October 10.
Thind, who began working for the company in late 2021, stored a “Demo Kit” and an “Installation Kit” in his vehicle. Around 2:30 a.m. on January 28, 2024, Thind’s brother-in-law found the car’s trunk open — but with no signs of forced entry. The demo kit was later recovered on a beach, water-damaged but largely intact. The installation kit, however, was never found.
The company claimed that because Thind had custody of the items, he should bear financial responsibility for their loss, estimating their retail value at $25,164.
Judge Libby disagreed, writing that the employer failed to prove negligence and that Thind had not signed any equipment release agreement for the installation kit.
“It is my view that the claimant has not met its burden of proof to establish that the defendant was negligent in this case,” Libby wrote.
The court did find Thind in minor breach of a demo kit release agreement, ordering him to pay $519 for a few unrecovered items — including a “demo” book, a “price” book, and a bedside control centre valued at $439.
The remainder of the company’s claim was dismissed, with the court noting that the recovered demo kit remained functional and usable.
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