B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed a case in which a couple claimed two family members took their dog.
According to tribunal documents, Glenn Kendall and Koreena Prevost said Alannah Lestage and Justin Meyers took their pooch Denae. The pair valued the animal at $850.
Kendall and Prevost are married; Lestage and Meyers are two of Prevost’s adult children.
Lestage and Meyers said Denae was initially a gift to Meyers and his dog to take. They claimed Kendall abused the dog and so Prevost surrendered Denae to them, tribunal vice-chair Andrea Ritchie said in an April 6 decision.
Ritchie concluded that since Prevost gave Denae to Myers, the dog was his.
“Once someone makes a gift to another person, that gift cannot be revoked,” Ritchie said.
Meyers had previously lived with Kendall and Prevost.
He told Ritchie that, in 2020, he asked his mother to get him a dog. Meyers said he was told the dog would be solely his responsibility, to which he agreed. In May 2020, Prevost adopted Denae for him.
However, Kendall said when they got Denae, he told Meyers “point blank” the dog was Prevost’s, but that Meyers was free to play with her and care for her.
After a physical altercation between Kendall and Meyers, the latter moved out. Meyers was unable to find a pet-friendly apartment, so Denae continued to live with Kendall and Prevost.
Ritchie noted text messages in evidence that Prevost told her children that Kendall had abused Denae — at one point punching the dog in the neck and head in March 2022.
Further text messages showed Lestage saying she was taking Denae, and that Kendall’s continued abuse was inexcusable.
“Mrs. Prevost responded by saying ‘take her, he’ll just keep beating her,’” Ritchie said.
By April 11, Prevost began asking for the dog back, which Meyers and Lestage refused.
Ritchie found insufficient evidence that Prevost initially bought the dog as a gift for Meyers.
However, she did find evidence supported that Prevost intended to donate Denae to Meyers and Lestage and that they accepted her.
“There is no indication in the text messages that Mrs. Prevost was giving up Denae temporarily,” Ritchie said. “I find it more likely than not that Mrs. Prevost donated or gifted Denae to the respondents to keep her safe. I see no other purpose on the evidence before me.”
