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Surrey uncle demanded refund of wedding gift
By Dan Ferguson - Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: May 23, 2010 6:00 AM
When Surrey blueberry farmer Surjit Gill arranged the marriage of his niece Kulwinder Kaur to Balbir Jaspal in 2000, he gave the husband-to-be $25,000.
Two years after the marriage took place, Gill demanded the money back.
The matter ended up in court, where a Vancouver B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the money was a gift, not a loan, and did not have to be repaid.
In her written reasons for judgement released Tuesday, Justice Gail Dickson said neither Gill nor his wife Parmjit Gill were credible witnesses.
"He [Gill] testified in a manner that was evasive and sometimes demonstrably inaccurate," Dickson said.
The wife Dickson said, "gave her evidence in a pat manner in an apparent effort to mirror Mr. Gill's evidence."
Gill claimed that Jaspal had demanded a loan before he went to India to get married and pressured the uncle into taking the money out of an already-overdrawn bank account.
The judge called that version of events "inherently improbable."
There was nothing written on the cheque to show the amount was a loan, Dickson noted, nor was there any written loan agreement.
Jaspal and another man testified that when Gill wrote the cheque, he said nothing about a loan, hugging his niece's fiancé and saying "this is what I promised you."
Jaspal's testimony was "generally credible" the judge said.
The written reasons for judgment noted that before their falling-out over the money, the younger Jaspal and Gill were friends.
"The sum advanced was undeniably substantial," the judge said.
"Mr. Gill is, however a man of substantial means. He chose to offer and give Mr, Jaspal a wedding gift of this magnitude. For undisclosed reasons, he later had a change of heart."
dferguson@surreyleader.com
source:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/94617874.html
By Dan Ferguson - Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: May 23, 2010 6:00 AM
When Surrey blueberry farmer Surjit Gill arranged the marriage of his niece Kulwinder Kaur to Balbir Jaspal in 2000, he gave the husband-to-be $25,000.
Two years after the marriage took place, Gill demanded the money back.
The matter ended up in court, where a Vancouver B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the money was a gift, not a loan, and did not have to be repaid.
In her written reasons for judgement released Tuesday, Justice Gail Dickson said neither Gill nor his wife Parmjit Gill were credible witnesses.
"He [Gill] testified in a manner that was evasive and sometimes demonstrably inaccurate," Dickson said.
The wife Dickson said, "gave her evidence in a pat manner in an apparent effort to mirror Mr. Gill's evidence."
Gill claimed that Jaspal had demanded a loan before he went to India to get married and pressured the uncle into taking the money out of an already-overdrawn bank account.
The judge called that version of events "inherently improbable."
There was nothing written on the cheque to show the amount was a loan, Dickson noted, nor was there any written loan agreement.
Jaspal and another man testified that when Gill wrote the cheque, he said nothing about a loan, hugging his niece's fiancé and saying "this is what I promised you."
Jaspal's testimony was "generally credible" the judge said.
The written reasons for judgment noted that before their falling-out over the money, the younger Jaspal and Gill were friends.
"The sum advanced was undeniably substantial," the judge said.
"Mr. Gill is, however a man of substantial means. He chose to offer and give Mr, Jaspal a wedding gift of this magnitude. For undisclosed reasons, he later had a change of heart."
dferguson@surreyleader.com
source:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/94617874.html
