A man who left a 1954 Chevrolet car grille with a friend for more than 20 years has no claim to the property, the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled April 5.
Douglas George Smith told tribunal member Kate Campbell he left the grille with BW, the late father of case respondent Levi Woods.
Smith said his sister gave him the grille some time after 1986. He said he had no place to put it, so BW agreed to hang it on the wall of his shop, where their car club met.
Smith said that at BW’s celebration of life, he told Woods the grille was his and he wanted it back.
Smith said Woods later said he sold the grille.
Smith requested a tribunal order that Woods return the grill, or alternatively pay $2,000.
Woods, however, said BW owned the grille, and had done so for over 20 years. He said that, as executor of BW’s estate, he sold the grille for $100, which he believed was its fair market value.
Campbell said there was no evidence showing that when BW hung the grille, he agreed he would eventually return it.
“Mr. Smith does not say there was such an agreement,” she said.
“Based on the evidence before me, I find that Mr. Smith abandoned the grille,” Campbell ruled.
“Even if I had concluded that Mr. Smith owned the grille, I would not have ordered the grille’s return. Since the parties agree it is sold, there is no practical way to get it back.”
