TOWNHOUSE OWNERS ON HOOK FOR BULK OF GROW-OP BILL

It was more bad news for the owners of Cranberry Lane townhouses in
East Richmond last week when a B.C. Supreme Court Judge ruled their
insurance company was not liable for the bulk of the $470,000 in
marijuana grow-op damages caused to the complex.

In March of 2005, Richmond Mounties discovered grow-ops in a third of
the complex's 90 townhomes after receiving a tip from an informant.

The owners of 29 units, including Carrington Properties Ltd.,
subsequently sued their insurance company, Commonwealth Insurance
Company and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, after their
claim was rejected.

The owners argued they should only have to pay a single $50,000
deductible for the entire claim because the grow-ops were likely a
coordinated effort, though investigators never found evidence of
supporting this contention.

The insurance firm countered that its policy states that each unit
damaged by the grow-op must pay the $50,000 deductible, which in most
cases exceeded the damage sustained.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice J. Christopher Grauer did rule that the
damage to nine units, which were identified to police by a single
informant, constituted a single occurrence and was therefore subject
to one deductible.

"In my view, it is improbable that the informant would have known of
nine completely independent and unrelated grow ops. Accordingly, I
find on a balance of probabilities that those nine grow-ops were
connected by a co-ordinating enterprise, and that the losses arising
from them are therefore attributable indirectly to one cause, and
thus constitute a single occurrence," Grauer wrote in his ruling.

However, he found insufficient evidence linking the remaining 20
units, and found that each were subject to the deductible of $50,000.