A B.C. couple is suing Burnaby’s Envo Drive Systems Inc. and a range of companies for acts that they say led up to an e-bike catching fire in their garage.
That fire “destroyed the plaintiffs’ home and contents located therein,” according to a notice of civil claim filed earlier this month in B.C. Supreme Court.
David Warbeck and Julia Martorana name All Battery Duncan Ltd., Changzhou Mxus Impand Exp Co. Ltd., two unknown companies and Envo in their lawsuit. Their claims have not been proven in court and none of the defendants had filed responses at the time of publication.
Cheryl Akenlose, a friend of the plaintiffs, owned the bicycle that went up in flames on Aug. 6, 2022, according to the notice of civil claim.
She had hired All Battery to install an electric-bicycle conversion kit and convert the bicycle into an electric bike, the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs allege that they picked up the bicycle at All Battery, brought it home and plugged its battery into an electrical outlet located in the carport of their property.
“Approximately one to two hours later, the e-bike battery caught on fire and the fire spread, causing extensive damage to the property,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs say that the listed companies owed them a duty of care.
They allege that Envo designed, manufactured, imported, marketed, distributed, sold and supplied the e-bike conversion kit and the e-bike battery. In the alternative, those actions were done by the other defendants, the plaintiffs allege.
BIV made unsuccessful attempts to get comments from All Battery and Envo.
Warbeck and Martorana are not the first British Columbians to sue battery makers, sellers and installers in the wake of a fire, though none of these recent claims have been proven, according to available court records.
Vancouver’s Kellyann Sharples is suing several e-bike and e-scooter companies in a lawsuit related to an apartment fire in 2022.
Envo is not named as one of those defendants, nor are any of the defendants that Warbeck and Martorana named in their notice of civil claim.
Sharples' lawsuit was filed in January, and it alleged that faulty lithium-ion batteries caused a fire that killed her spouse, Tim Lilley, at their home at 1255 Pendrell Street.
News reports from 2022 back up that there was a fire that claimed one life at the apartment, which went up in flames just after 6 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2022.
One of the defendants, Surrey-based repair shop Royer Batteries, filed a response to the notice of civil claim denying the fire was ignited by a lithium-ion battery charging in the living room.
The company also denied that it had inspected and serviced the battery prior to its alleged failure, as Sharples claimed.
The defendants also denied a battery was responsible for the fire.
