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North Vancouver condo project blamed for damage to car

LoLo woman in dispute with developer
cement damage

A Lower Lonsdale woman says she could be out thousands of dollars thanks to wet concrete raining down on her car from a nearby construction site.

Maggie Andrews has been in an ongoing dispute with Kamcon Investments over the company’s development of the Anchor on the 100-block of East Third Street since demolition began in 2014.

At times, she agreed to Kamcon’s request to move her vehicle from her rented spot in the lane adjacent to the building site when construction might put it at risk. But Andrews said she could rarely get a straight answer as to when she needed to move her car. Sometime in 2015, she noticed her 2004 Honda Civic was splattered with wet cement and the windshield was cracked.

When she took it up with Kamcon’s owners, they offered to have the car detailed but that would only be a temporary fix, one detailer told her. ICBC told her the $5,000 paint job the car needed would be more than the $3,500 car is worth and so it would have to be a writeoff.

The developer offered to buy her a similar year and model car as a replacement if she agreed to give them her old car.

But because Andrews stands just four feet tall, she would still have to pay an extra $2,000 required to have custom adaptable pedals installed, she said.

“I would lose money. I didn’t want to lose my car, which was running fine, and be out of pocket a couple thousand dollars. To me, that just didn’t make any sense,” she said. “I’m 25, living on my own in Lower Lonsdale. I work full time as a hairdresser. I don’t make a ton of money.”

As a last resort, she filed a $5,584 claim in court to cover the costs of a full paint job and new windshield.

Kamcon responded saying Andrews hadn’t proven the damage was caused by their work, and that her claim for more than the car’s value would create a windfall she is not entitled to.

In an interview, Kamcon president Kam Tafreshi said he didn’t know about Andrews’ special needs until last week. The two have never met in person and Andrews said she didn’t make an issue of it because she’s spent her whole life trying to get by without allowing her height to define her.

Tafreshi said he expected the matter to be settled over more discussions and that he was waiting for Andrews to get back to him.

“Instead I got served with a small claims lawsuit,” he said.

Tafreshi maintains Andrews should have at least tried having the car detailed to see if it would work before filing a suit.

“Another person from that same building came to us with that same complaint and I sent her to a car polish place. She had it done and her car was perfectly fine. It cost us $300. She was fine with it. We were happy and that was the end of it,” he said.

Tafreshi said he would still prefer to resolve the dispute through negotiation, although the court system will bring with it the burden of proof.

“There’s a lot of he-said-she-said but there needs to be facts,” he said. “Yes, I am willing to work with her as I was willing to work with her months ago before she filed a lawsuit against me. I’m not a bad guy.”

On Friday, Andrews is due to meet with two of Kamcon’s lawyers for a mediation session. If an agreeable outcome can’t be reached, the case may proceed to a trial in small claims court.

Andrews said she was tempted to drop her complaint against Kamcon out of sheer stress and frustration but opted to pursue it on principle.

“I was sick of it. I think it probably happens a lot more than people know,” she said. “A 2004 Honda Civic isn’t maybe the nicest kind type of car, but to me, it is my car. I paid for that with my own money, which I don’t have a lot of. … All I want is my car fixed.”