Bulk Sales Act: In Layman's Terms
Author: Puru Grover, M.B.A., LL.M. 

As a creditor, have you ever come across a situation where a company, say company X was bought over by company Y? When you approached X for payment, you were told to go to Y and when you went to Y, they told you that they were not responsible since they only bought the assets of X. Sounds familiar? 

What have you done in a case like the one above? 

In a case like the one for X and Y, there is legislation to prevent X from selling or disposing of its assets in bulk to Y and then pocketing all the money obtained from the proceeds of the sale. The legislation is called the ‘Bulk Sales Act’. The Act is designed to prevent business owners from secretly transferring their business assets to another company to avoid paying creditors. These laws apply mainly to retail, wholesale, and manufacturing businesses. Basically, a bulk sales law requires X to notify creditors that the assets of the business are being transferred to Y. 

Small Claims Court | British Columbia - Small Claims Court 

Most cases can be heard in Small Claims Court provided the amount of money or the value of the goods or services involved is $35,000 or less (interest not included). The Provincial Court now deals with cases from $5001 to $35,000 in its “Small Claims court”. The changes came about on June 1, 2017. Cases involving up to $5000 now go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal or CRT, which is Canada’s first online tribunal. The CRT now resolves small claims disputes $5,000 and under.

Before deciding to use the court to settle a dispute, consider that court proceedings are costly and time consuming. You may want to try to reach a compromise out of court.