Jie Min Wang thought he had it rough when his Kerrisdale, British Columbia home was damaged by a flood. But as Wang soon discovered, his situation was capable of becoming even more dire: the repairmen hired to restore his home mistakenly discarded seven cases of liquor priced at $1,000 per bottle.
Wang is now suing to recover the missing booze, which he prices at $84,000, according to The Province.
In his notice filed with the B.C. Supreme Court, Wang asserts that he placed a claim with Beacon Underwriting to cover damages sustained in a July 2014 flood. The insurer then hired Cox Insurance Associates to adjust it, and retained On Side Restoration to remove damaged items and conduct any necessary repairs.
On Side worked on the residence for two weeks, and during that time, the restoration team removed seven cases of Moutai 2009, an expensive Chinese liquor made from fermented sorghum. They also extracted a case of Ergoutou, another type of sorghum liquor.
Wang’s wife signed a liability waiver after being told that workers would alert her if they needed to discard any of the couple’s personal property.
In November 2014, however, On Side returned the case of Ergoutou, but failed to bring back a single bottle of Moutai. Wang claims that the restoration company told her that they disposed of all the cases “by mistake.”
He obtained legal representation and now seeks “special and general damages for breach of policy and engagement contracts, breach of duty of good faith, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful conversion and unjust enrichment.”
The lawsuit names On Side Restoration, Cox Insurance Associates Adjusting Corp., Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, and Beacon Underwriting Ltd. as defendants, though he still needs to prove his losses in court.
