An informal arrangement for a business partner to use a private club became a dispute about who could use the membership and whether fees still had to be paid. Monti Samuel joined The Vancouver Club in 2018. The club had agreed that her business partner could hold client meetings there when the club received advance notice. The written membership, however, belonged to Samuel personally and the club's bylaws allowed cancellation on 30 days' notice.
When the club changed its membership system in late 2023 or early 2024, the partner lost access. Staff discovered that the partner had used the club for social events and reservations as well as client meetings. The club declined to restore that broader access without a separate membership and refused Samuel's request to put her dues on hold. Samuel stopped using the club, but she didn't exercise her right to cancel. By the time the club expelled her in December 2024, its statement showed $6,504.99 owing.
The Civil Resolution Tribunal considered the claim under its societies and cooperatives jurisdiction, rather than treating it only as an ordinary small debt. Samuel's position raised the question whether the society had treated her in an unfairly prejudicial manner. The Tribunal applied a 2 part inquiry into her reasonable expectations and the objectively prejudicial effect of any failure to meet them. There was no agreement to create a shared business membership, and the advance notice condition had not been followed. Nor was there a bylaw entitling her to suspend dues while she disputed her partner's access.
Although the societies jurisdiction could accommodate a larger monetary claim, the club had originally limited its demand to $5,000. The Tribunal refused to enlarge it after the jurisdictional change because doing so would be procedurally unfair. It ordered Samuel to pay $5,000 in debt and $175 in tribunal fees, with applicable postjudgment interest.
The decision turned on the club's actual agreement and bylaws, not a rule that societies can always charge members who have stopped attending. For membership organizations, informal guest privileges should be defined carefully. For members, a disagreement over access doesn't ordinarily cancel continuing obligations under an agreement that provides its own termination procedure.