B.C. tribunal orders woman to pay ex $450 for Coldplay ticket she thought was a gift

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia woman has been ordered to pay her former romantic partner $450 for her ticket to attend a Coldplay concert together on what she said she believed was a date.

But the province’s Civil Resolution Tribunal says in a ruling that there was no evidence Michael Stolfi intended the ticket to be a gift to Alyssa Randles, and that instead it was a loan that the woman had to repay.

Stolfi took Randles to the tribunal after she refused to pay for the ticket and other expenses associated with the trip to Vancouver to attend the September 2023 concert by the British rockers.

Randles told the tribunal that the trip was a date, the ticket was a gift, and Stolfi only asked for the money after the concert.

Tribunal member Mark Henderson says in his July 15 ruling that Randles relied on the fact she was dating Stolfi to establish the ticket was gift, but she didn’t describe any “specific conduct” by Stolfi to show that was his intention, such as a history of similar gifts.

Stolfi sought a total of $600 to cover the ticket and other costs associated with the trip, but Henderson ruled against repayment of the additional costs because he says Stolfi didn’t prove Randles agreed to “specific terms” for repayment of the hotel, taxi and dining expenses.

Henderson’s ruling, first reported by CTV, says that under the law of gifts, a receiver must establish something was intended to be a gift, and the giver’s intention to make a gift was inconsistent with any other intention.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press