A prominent Richmond realtor has been accused in a lawsuit by her former employer, New Coast Realty, of “forging and concealing” changes made to 11 contracts and causing the firm to lose listings contracts and commissions.
But in her response to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, realtor Wendy Yang alleges “it was common practice” for realtors at New Coast to write their manager’s name on documents submitted to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) and that she left the firm because she refused to take part in what she believed were “unethical and unlawful practices.”
The case is set for trial in 2018 and none of the allegations have been proven in court.
New Coast alleges in its claim that, in January 2016, “unbeknownst to New Coast... Yang was planning her departure to a competitor real estate agency, Metro Edge.”
According to the claim, New Coast learned in early February 2016 that “Ms. Yang had forged the name of New Coast’s managing broker” on 11 amended listing contracts and Yang “surreptitiously submitted them to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, thereby purporting to terminate each of the listing contracts.”
Yang switched her licence to a new firm, Metro Edge, and re-listed nine of the contracts with Metro Edge as the listing brokerage, New Coast’s claim says.
The claim also states that without New Coast’s knowledge, Yang included, in the terms for two contracts, language that reduced New Coast’s commissions.
It also alleges that Yang entered into four new listing agreements for Metro Edge while still under contract with New Coast.
New Coast complained to the REBGV and the board terminated each of the contracts re-listed by Yang, according to the claim.
As a result, New Coast has lost commissions of $231,000 and future commissions, and is seeking damages over the alleged losses, the claim states.
But Yang’s response alleges that she decided to leave the brokerage because her manager at the time, Ze Yu Wu, pressured her into “unethical and unlawful phantom assignments and other unlawful and unethical practices which she refused to be involved in.”
“Phantom assignments” refers to a controversial practice, also known as “shadow flipping,” in which sales contracts for properties are transferred by brokers multiple times before a sale closes.
The response states as a result of Yang’s refusal to take part in unethical business, Wu took steps to ensure further business stopped coming to Yang. And so, she “took marketing steps at her cost to obtain listings.”
Yang’s response states she joined Metro Edge Realty after she was “terminated” at New Coast, and “the only listings the defendant (Yang) dealt with were listings she had obtained as a result of her own efforts.”
Yang’s response to allegations that she forged amended listing contracts states “it was common practice and accepted by the plaintiff (New Coast) for team leaders to sign the broker’s name on administrative communications with the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.”
