A B.C. woman has to repay a $1,600 personal loan more than two years after she claimed she already paid it by leaving the cash in an envelope in a barbecue.
Teresa Joy Henry has been ordered to pay James Carl King $1,650 in debt, $111 in pre-judgement interest and $125 in Civil Resolution Tribunal fees, according to a Feb. 20 decision from tribunal member Christopher Rivers. Henry had also asked the tribunal to dismiss King’s claim.
King loaned Henry $1,650 in February 2021. As well, Henry signed a promissory note requiring that she would repay the loans balance, interest free, by June 30, 2021.
King said he hasn’t been repaid, but Henry claimed she left the $1,650 in cash in an envelope in his barbecue on June 5, 2021.
Rivers said the note proves the loan so it was on Henry to prove she repaid it.
In mid-November 2021, King said he reminded Henry of the loan and followed up a week later by text. She said she had repaid it, but didn’t provide details about how or when it was repaid.
Rivers said over the following months, the two had discussions about the loan, both in person and over text, but they continued to disagree over whether or not it had been paid. King then filed the dispute.
In the decision, it says King would help manage Henry’s rental property and regularly collected her rent on behalf of a third party. He would sometimes give instructions to Henry to put the rent money in an agreed upon location in his backyard, but that was on a case-by-case basis. He said that wasn’t the case with the loan.
King said the first time he heard about the cash being left in the barbecue on June 5, 2021 was when Henry filed her dispute response.
“Given this is the only argument in their defence, I would have expected the respondent to provide some evidence or explanation as to how they determined the date with such precision,” Rivers said.
Rivers added that it was up to Henry to prove she repaid the loan, which she was unable to prove.
Henry has to repay the loan, pre-judgement interest and fees within 14 days of the order.
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