BC man's $1,000 suit focal point of legal fight against dry cleaner

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A BC man initiated a legal dispute against a dry cleaner who he claimed damaged his wool suit, valued at over $1,000.

Sudheer Gupta said that his suit was damaged during cleaning and that the BC dry cleaner later performed poor repairs. He claimed $1,006.88 in damages in a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute to replace his suit.

In defence, the dry cleaning company, Western Cleaning Enterprise (WCE), said it was damaged when Gupta brought it in.

According to the tribunal decision, the dry cleaner said it wasn’t responsible for damages because the suit no longer had any value because of its age. The tribunal thought differently, albeit slightly.

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Fletchers Fabric, a sole proprietorship owned by WCE, cleaned Gupta’s suit in November 2022. WCE doesn’t dispute that after the suit was cleaned, the left rear pocket had some damage that wasn’t there when the suit was dropped off.

Both parties also agreed that after WCE repaired the suit’s pants twice, he was unhappy with the results.

Regarding the damage, WCE claimed that the suit fibres were likely previously weakened through wear and tear, potentially because he wore them too tight or kept a wallet in the back pocket. The tribunal stated that WCE doesn’t say how wearing a suit five times could leave fibres so weakened.

WCE could not convince the tribunal that it wasn’t negligent in cleaning the pants.

“I accept that Western Cleaning’s first repairs were visually unappealing and noticeable to Mr. Gupta, and the second repairs made the pants too small. On a judgment basis, I allow $150 in damages for Mr. Gupta’s suit pants.”

WCE was ordered to pay Gupta $230.61 within 30 days of the tribunal decision, which included the $150 for damages and the rest in tribunal fees.