Yelling, wasps and a scared cow: Kootenay farmer ordered to pay after highland cow sale lands in court

A dispute over a frightened highland cow has ended up in the small claims court after the stubborn heifer refused to be loaded onto a trailer after being sold, and the farmer then refused a refund.

According to a Nov. 27 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Tonya Hicks paid $1,500 a head for six highland cows from Todd Veri, and loaded five onto a trailer to take home.

However, the sixth cow, named Whitie, refused to get on the trailer, and after many attempts to wrangle her, Hicks gave up.

She asked for a $1,500 refund for the highland cow, but Veri refused, so Hicks took legal action in the online small claims court.

The decision said Hicks arranged for a mover to head to the Kootenay farm and collect the animals, who managed to get five of them on the trailer, accept the one-year-old heifer named Whitie.

Both sides agreed that Whitie got scared during the loading process and refused to return to the barn. The movers spent an hour trying to wrangle Whitie before giving up.

“The parties agree that the loading experience was stressful, although for slightly different reasons,” the Tribunal said.

Hicks said that wasps from a nearby nest began stinging the cattle while they were being loaded, while Vero claimed the trailer being too small was the problem and when one cow got on, another would get off.

However, the Tribunal ruled the trailer was an adequate size, and the reason that Whitie couldn’t be loaded was that she got scared, not because the trailer was too small.

Hicks arranged to come back in a few days later to get Whitie and asked Veri to deal with the wasps. He told her to bring wasp spray.

The decision said Hicks returned to collect Whitie but things didn’t go smoothly.

Veri refused to let Hicks spray the wasp’s nest and, after a while, gave up arguing about it and went to look for Whitie, who was not in the barn.

They found the cow somewhere on the 59-acre property.

“I will not try to explain the parties’ exact maneuvers in their attempt to get Whitie back to the barn. Ms. Hicks says that it involved Mr. Veri yelling at her to hide from Whitie and then yelling at her again when Whitie spotted her and got scared,” the Tribunal said. “After a failed attempt to wrangle Whitie into the barn, a ‘feeble’ attempt, according to Mr. Veri, Ms. Hicks says that she and her partner had had enough of being yelled at by Mr. Veri and decided to leave.”

More yelling went on between the two, which nearly led to a physical altercation.

“Mr. Veri says he told Ms. Hicks that she was leaving without her cow and that she would never see a dime from him. Ms. Hicks drove away, leaving Whitie behind,” the Tribunal said.

Veri wanted to keep the cattle with other members of the herd and sold Whitie to someone else who had bought other cows from him for $300. He tried to e-transfer the money to Hicks, but she refused the payment.

The new buyer collaborated the story about the wasps and said they were stung a few times while loading up Whitie.

Veri argued that Hicks took ownership of Whitie after she paid for her and that it was her responsibility to pick her up.

However, the Tribunal disagreed.

“I acknowledge that Whitie has a mind of her own, and that she was likely scared by the previous loading experience… Whitie’s fear clearly made Mr. Veri’s task of finding and wrangling her more difficult,” the Tribunal said. “However, I find Mr. Veri is largely to blame.”

The Tribunal ruled that it was Veri’s responsibility to provide a safe and suitable location for loading the cattle onto the trailer.

“I find the barn’s wasp nest likely made loading the cattle a frightening, stressful, and chaotic experience for both the cattle and movers,” the Tribunal ruled.

The Tribunal said that, given the hostility between the two, it was reasonable for Hicks to walk away from the situation.

“I find what matters is that Mr. Veri was responsible for preparing Whitie for transport and that he failed to do so. As a result, Ms. Hicks does not have the cow that she paid for,” the Tribunal ruled.

Ultimately, the Tribunal ordered Veri to refund the $1,500 for Whitie plus $200 in interest and fees.