Former arm wrestling club owners on hook for $18k in rent, repairs

An arm wrestling club was at the centre of a recent a court case involving more than $18,000 in rent and repairs owed on a Port Coquitlam property.

Ezreal Armwrestling Club Ltd., which deals in arm wrestling and fitness equipment, signed a three-year lease on a Broadway Street warehouse with Onni in 2021. At the time, the shareholders in Ezreal were Shunxian Li and Chin-Chen Tsai.

However, a little more than one year after the lease was signed, Dawei Zhu bought the company and moved operations to Richmond.

Ezreal kept paying pre-authorized rent until July 1, 2023, when Onni found the account had insufficient funds.

The real estate company subsequently asked for $18,573 in unpaid rent and repair costs.

While there was no dispute that Onni was owed the money, there was a question of which party owed that money.

Ezreal contended former Ezreal owners Chin-Chen Tsai and Shunxian Li were responsible for the debt.

The case came down to a critical clause in the share purchase agreement between Zhu and the former owners.

That clause, which Judge Wilson Lee described as: “regrettably vague,” stipulated that the seller would help the purchaser move to new premises and “will be responsible for the cost of original warehouse and finding new tenants.”

The clause didn’t appear to be drafted by a lawyer, contained grammatical errors, and failed to specify what was meant by “original warehouse,” the judge wrote.

However, Judge Lee ultimately decided the clause held former owners Li and Tsai responsible for: “any costs flowing from Ezreal’s departure from the property.”

The former owners are required to pay Onni $18,573 plus $186 in court costs.