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A B.C. man has been awarded $1,000 for the mental anguish he had to go through after his former partner barred him from seeing their pet dog.

The case involves a dog called Blaize and the couple which separated a decade ago but made a verbal agreement to share custody.

After eight years of sharing custody of Blaize, Carrie Corbett refused her ex-partner, Dallas Yellowfly, access to look after the dog saying he wasn't caring for it properly anymore.

According to a Jan. 28, Civil Resolution Tribunal, Blaize is now dead, but the Tribunal did still rule on the case.

The decision says Corbett and Yellowfly had lived together for several years but separated in 2011. They'd come to a verbal agreement about Blaize and shared custody of the dog.

Corbett argued she had 70 per cent of the custody and paid all the vet's bills, while Yellowfly said the dog's time with each of them was split equally.

Yellowfly had originally asked for Blaize to be returned to him, but since the dog had died, now asked for $1,200 for the cost of Blaize, $1,000 for mental and emotional distress, and $1,800 for the loss of use and enjoyment of Blaize.

Much of the decision is given over to who actually owned Blaize and Corbett argued there was no custody agreement but that Yellowfly would "visit" the dog.

However, the Tribunal disagreed saying that although Corbett arranged and paid for most of Blaize’s veterinarian care that didn't mean Yellowfly had given up his ownership rights.

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Corbett didn't dispute that she stopped Yellowfly from looking after Blaize in July 2020, but she did it because he was failing to properly care for him.

She argued that on several occasions Blaize had been returned to her ill or injured – once with an ear infection, once with an injured paw.

But the Tribunal ruled that Corbett hadn't provided enough evidence to say that the illness and injury were a result of Yellowfly looking after the dog.

"I find Ms. Corbett was not justified in discontinuing Mr. Yellowfly’s access to Blaize," the decision reads. "While I acknowledge Ms. Corbett’s believe that she was taking the best care of Blaize by refusing Mr. Yellowfly access, I find it was not justified in the circumstances and was a breach of the parties’ ownership agreement."

Yellowfly submitted a doctor's note saying the custody situation had put him under "a lot of stress" and affected his mental health.

"Overall, I find Mr. Yellowfly experienced a serious and prolonged disruption from being unable to exercise his ownership rights to Blaize from July 2020 to his undisputed death in July 2021," the Tribunal ruled. "So, I find Mr. Yellowfly’s claim for $1,000 in mental distress damages is appropriate."

The Tribunal dismissed Yellowfly's claim for $2,800 for loss of use and enjoyment of Blaize and ruled the former couple had owned the dog equally.

Ultimately, although Blaize is no longer alive, the Tribunal ordered Corbett to pay $1,000 in damages for causing mental distress, and $600 in damages for refusing access to Blaize.

As the Tribunal found the pair had joint ownership of Blaize, the $175 Civil Resolution fee was split between them.

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