SURREY — A Surrey cancer patient who claims a couple of local real estate agents cheated her out of $500,000 has launched a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to get her money back as well as compensation for general, special, punitive and aggravated damages.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and the case has yet to be heard by a judge.
Surrey resident and care aide Manjit Kaur Gill, doing business as Camy Enterprises Ltd., is suing estate agents Narotam (Don) Singh Dhanoa and Surinder Kaur Dhanoa, of Surrey, as well as their son Bir Kanwar Singh Dhanoa, also a Surrey resident, their daughter Navnageena (Neenu) Dhanoa, who lives in California, and a numbered company
The lawsuit was filed in March, in the Chilliwack registry of B.C. Supreme Court.
Defendant Don Dhanoa denied Gill’s claims as “false allegations.”
A court date has not yet been set. “Everything is in front of the courts right now,” he told the Now.
The document states the plaintiff had been friends with Don and Surinder Dhanoa since 1981 and the couple had also acted as agents for her and Camy Enterprises Ltd., engaging in real estate transactions with her in 2005 and 2011 through which the plaintiff received a total profit of $201,838 on $486,000 in investments.
The notice of civil claim states Gill was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2012 and that she learned in August 2013 that it had metastasized to her brain, for which she underwent radiation therapy that November. It also claims Don and Surinder Dhanoa were aware of her medical condition.
According to Gill’s claim. the couple met her at their Surrey home in September 2013 to discuss investing in commercial real estate property at King George Boulevard and 84th Avenue in Newton. The lawsuit claims the couple sought funds from Gill to jointly invest in the $17 million property, promising her an investment of $500,000 would yield a gross return of at least $1 million within six months.
Gill claims the couple at the initial meeting were aware she had received cancer treatment, that the cancer had returned, that she was due to undergo brain radiation treatment “and that her general health was poor.”
Gill alleges in her lawsuit that the couple told her they would use her $500,000 and $500,000 of their own to put a $1 million downpayment on the property. According to Gill’s notice of civil claim, Don and Surinder Dhanoa told her the plan was to “sell and assign” the option to purchase contract to prospective purchasers for a quick profit.
The claim alleges Don and Surinder Dhanoa intended to defraud Gill, “actively concealed material facts” and made “fraudulent and/or negligent misrepresentations” constituting a breach of their agreement.
According to Gill, she transferred $500,000 by means of a bank draft to the defendant company while she was in the United Kingdom, understanding that upon her return to Canada she would be issued a promissory note detailing the terms of their agreement. The statement alleges the couple declined to provide her with that note and that their son and daughter dissolved the company in February 2014 without satisfying its liability to her with respect to the loan funds as required under the Business Corporations Act. In the alternative, the claim alleges, Don and Surinder Dhanoa and their daughter Neenu fraudulently dissolved the company to evade liability.
The plaintiff is alleging fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract, conversion, breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, and conspiracy for which she claims she continues to suffer damages.
tom.zytaruk@thenownewspaper.com
