Registrar's Decision

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Registrar's Decision 20-09-004

HEARING FILE NUMBER: 20-09-004

IN THE MATTER OF THE MOTOR DEALER ACT, R.S.B.C. 1996 C.316AND THE BUSINESS PRACTICES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, S.B.C. 2004, C.2

DATE OF DECISION: April 29, 2021

COMPLAINANT: Vehicle Sales Authority of BC (the “Authority”)

LICENSEE/UNLICENSED PERSON: Brian David Rowe (Licence #106494)

INTRODUCTION:

On September 22, 2020 the Authority issued a Notice of Hearing against Brian Rowe, along with the Affidavit of Investigation Officer Bryan Reid. Investigation Officer Bryan Reid’s Affidavit showed that Brian Rowe conducted at least 16 sales of motor vehicles posing as a manager of two different motor dealers, when he was not a manager of either and was not authorized to sell motor vehicles by either dealer.

On December 22, 2020, the Registrar rendered a decision which found that Brian Rowe did not act with honesty or integrity and misrepresented to a consumer that they were dealing with a registered motor dealer when they were not. The Registrar found no evidence that Brian Rowe was remorseful of his conduct or that he intended on changing his behaviour and he therefore revoked Brian Rowe’s salesperson licence. As there was another ongoing, active investigation involving Brian Rowe at the time of the Registrar’s decision, the Registrar also prohibited Brian Rowe from re-applying for a salesperson licence until the results of this active investigation regarding his activities were known.

In or around March of 2021, Brian Rowe requested the Registrar’s December 22, 2020 Decision be reconsidered and provided a written statement outlining his reasons for the request.

ISSUES:

The Authority alleged that Salesperson Rowe:

Conducted 15 vehicle transactions representing himself as a representative of J & B Auto Brokers, which was a closed dealership, using Mr. Rowe’s experience and knowledge as a former employee of that dealership to carry out those transactions.
Represented himself as a representative of another dealership, Minit-Tune, and sold a Honda Odyssey to a consumer representing to the consumer they were purchasing from Minit-Tune when Mr. Rowe had no affiliation with Minit-Tune.

The Registrar’s decision to revoke Brian Rowe’s salesperson licence can be reconsidered under sections 26.11 and 26.12 of the Motor Dealer Act. In order for the Registrar to cancel or vary this previous decision, the following legislative requirements must be met:

The request for reconsideration must be filed within 30 days of receiving the original decision, with the Registrar having some discretion to extend that time,
The requesting party must provide evidence,

that did not exist at the time of the first hearing, or
that did exist at the time of the first hearing but was recently discovered and could not have been discovered by applying a due diligent search, and
the evidence must be substantial and material that it could alter the first decision.

OUTCOME

After reviewing the request for reconsideration of Brian Rowe, the Registrar found none of the evidence advanced in Brian Rowe’s request was new evidence as that term is defined in the legislation and some of the evidence that was provided only further confirmed some of the original findings in the Registrar’s December 22, 2020 Decision. Therefore, the Registrar is without legal authority to cancel or vary his December 22, 2020 Decision and the request for reconsideration is denied.

LEGISLATION CITED

Motor Dealer Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 316

Business Practices and Consumer Act, S.B.C., 2004, c. 2

Salesperson Licensing Regulation, B.C. Reg. 202/2017

Motor Dealer Act Regulation , B.C. Reg. 447/78

CASES CITED

Fryer v. Motor Vehicle Sales Authority of British Columbia , 2015 BCSC 279
Northmark Mechanical Systems Inc. v. Watson (Estate), 2009 BCSC 1237 (BC Supreme Court)
R v. Handy, 2002 SCC 56 (Supreme Court of Canada)

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