BC Court of Appeal upholds decision setting aside $430K default judgment over failed Anmore property sale

The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt to reinstate a $430,000 default judgment stemming from a failed property purchase in Anmore, upholding a previous ruling that found the buyer had no knowledge of the lawsuit.

In a decision released March 12, a three-judge panel upheld a 2025 BC Supreme Court judgement allowing defendant Li Min Wang to challenge a damage assessment obtained by the sellers after she allegedly failed to complete the purchase of the 3.4-acre property.

Plaintiffs Marida Holdings Ltd., Shannon Marie MacKenzie, Marilyn Ethel Anderson and Heather Anderson argued the court made legal and factual errors when it set aside both a default judgment and a subsequent damages award.

Writing for the court, Justice Andrew Mayer rejected those arguments, concluding the chambers judge properly applied the law and reasonably found that Wang had not deliberately ignored the proceedings.

According to court records, the sellers alleged Wang breached the agreement to buy the property for $1.58 million. After the deal fell through, the property was later sold for $1.15 million, leaving a difference of $430,000 that the plaintiffs sought to recover through the courts.

When Wang did not file a response to the lawsuit, the sellers obtained a default judgment in October 2023. The judgment was registered against title to Wang’s Burnaby apartment.

The plaintiffs then applied to have damages formally assessed. In October 2024, a judge ordered that Wang be served with the damages application. Documents were posted on the lobby door of her apartment building, copies were mailed, two different email addresses were sent court materials, and photographs of the suit were sent to a phone number linked to her.

When Wang did not attend the hearing, the court assessed damages on Nov. 8, 2024, awarding the plaintiffs $430,000, plus nearly $28,000 in interest and more than $8,100 in legal fees. The court ordered an additional $20,000 deposit from the failed transaction be released to the plaintiffs, on top of a $55,000 deposit they had already received.

However, Wang later applied to have both the damages award and the default judgment set aside, saying she had never received notice of the proceedings.

In affidavits filed with the court, Wang said she travelled to China in May 2023 to care for her mother after she suffered a stroke, while her father was also hospitalized with health issues. She remained largely outside Canada until January 2025, apart from a brief visit in 2024.

During that period, Wang said she stopped using her Canadian phone number, did not check her Canadian mailbox, and could not access certain email accounts while in China due to internet restrictions. Her Burnaby apartment had been rented to tenants, and she said she was unaware that legal documents had been posted or delivered there.

Wang told the court she only became aware of the lawsuit when she returned to Canada in January 2025 and checked her email accounts. She then cancelled her return flight to China, hired a Mandarin-speaking lawyer and applied to set aside the judgment.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge accepted her explanation and ruled that she had not deliberately failed to respond to the claim. The judge set aside the damages assessment and also vacated the default judgment.

The sellers appealed that decision, arguing the judge had misapplied the law, including that Wang was entitled to rely on a Supreme Court rule for reconsideration of orders made in a party’s absence.

Justice Mayer rejected those arguments, stating there have been no significant legal errors in the decision.

The court found Wang had the right to ask the court to reconsider the damages order because the sellers themselves had asked a judge for permission to serve her with the damages application in alternative ways.

The civil suit will now proceed with Wang able to defend against the damages.