Image Credit: PEXELS
November 15, 2023 - 6:00 PM
Two friends landed in a BC small claims court when they weren't able to resolve a dispute over a Christmas decoration. It all came down to whether or not the decoration was a gift or if it was loaned.
Erin Schonert said she loaned her nine-foot tall Christmas tin soldier archway decoration to Myrtle Cloutier in 2014, according to a BC Civil Resolutions Tribunal decision published Nov. 15.
Schonert said her now-deceased ex-husband bought the archway and it had sentimental value to their children.
She gave it to Cloutier when she moved to a smaller home in 2014, but claimed it was loaned with the intention that it would be returned to her children when they got older. Along with a statement from her son, she submitted a screenshot of a Facebook comment where she claimed exactly that.
Four years after the archway was given to Cloutier, Schonert texted her to say she would come over to pick something up from her home. Schonert claimed that was in relation to the archway, but Cloutier said she came over for something else, never mentioning that she wanted the archway back until December 2022.
Cloutier, however, said Schonert gifted her the archway in November 2014, adding that she was friends with Schonert's ex-husband and wanted something to remember him by. There was never a discussion of a loan, she said.
The tribunal put little weight on either of their statements.
"On balance, I find it more likely that Ms. Schonert gifted the archway to Ms. Cloutier," the tribunal decision read, going on to suggest the evidence from both parties was unreliable.
The tribunal said even if it wasn't a gift, Schonert abandoned the archway for years and took very few steps to retrieve it.
The claim was ultimately dismissed and Cloutier kept the tin soldier archway decoration.
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