Graham Kosakoski is suing A.R.C. Accounts Recovery Corp. (ARC) for $500,000 in punitive damages for allegedly making false representations continuing to contact Kosakoski's mother and causing her stress despite Kosakoski's repeated requests for the collection agency to contact him directly.
Problems started after February 28 when ARC first contacted Kosakoski's mother in Kamloops about a debt to Revenue Services of British Columbia (RSBC) that Kosakoski allegedly owed.
Kosakoski had no knowledge of that debt because, according to his claim, RSBC had sent previous notices to the wrong address.
Kosakoski's mother waited until March 1 to alert her son to ARC's telephone call because she worried that her son would be distressed by knowledge of the phone call and that it would negatively affect his work responsibilities.
Kosakoski spoke with ARC that day and gave ARC his phone number as well as instructions not to phone his mother.
ARC told Kosakoski to pay the debt immediately or a lien would be placed on Kosakoski's bank accounts and wages forthwith, in absence of a court order.
No amount of that debt were revealed in the statement of claim.
Despite Kosakoski's requests, ARC contacted his mother on March 8 and then again on March 10, Kosakoski states in his statement of claim. Kosakoski's mother did not tell her son of these calls until March 13.
He then contacted ARC and demanded that they stop calling his mother. ARC repeated its threats to put a lien on Kosakoski's bank account and wages.
Kosakoski paid his debt to RSBC on March 15.
"The defendant acted pursuant to an unlawful policy to violate the Business Consumer Protection and Practices Act in order to levy emotional distress on purported debtors," Kosakoski said in his statement of claim.
"The defendant's representations that it could put an immediate lien on the plaintiff's assets in absence of a court order were false. The defendant made the representations with the full knowledge that they were false, or recklessly without caring whether they were true or false."
