Pivot Loses File of Downtown Eastside Man Allegedly Assaulted by Concord Security Guards

Doug King, a Pivot lawyer, has just announced that he is representing three low income men suing Fusion Security for allegedly brutally attacking them at Harbour Centre mall.  Security guards allegedly took the men to an area with no security cameras and beat them
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Hopefully Pivot can keep track of the file.

Pivot lost the file of "J", a Downtown Eastsider who they were representing in a law suit against Concord security guards at Metrotown Mall.  "J." was brutally assaulted by the guards.  He had been out in Surrey working casual on the night shift in a warehouse -- topping up his welfare; he's allowed to legally earn $500.  When he got off in the morning, he went for a couple of beer with a co-worker and then went to the company office at  Metrotown mall to pick up his cheque.  He made the mistake of chatting to a security guard who may have smelled the beer on his breath.  The guard told him to leave the premises, which "J." did.  J walked quite a distance to a small park, thinking he was off the premises, only to hear a guard order another guard to jump him.  J's nose and teeth were broken and he had a long scab down the front of his nose.  He now wears dentures.  There were credible witnesses to the assault, people who had been walking by and yelled at the guard to stop.  An ambulance came but J. didn't use it.

King took the case.  He told J. he was optimistic about getting a settlement.

When J.A. phoned King for an update, he said the security firm was not being cooperative.  But Pivot had the police report and the witness statements.  King later announced that he was leaving the country for a year and he would pass the file on to another lawyer at Pivot.  The woman who was supposed to inherit the file at Pivot then told "J" that the file had been lost.

"J" phoned back several times to get an update but didn't get a response.

Where did all of this confidential personal information -- forms had been filled out at Pivot -- about "J"end up?  Did somebody leave it on lunch counter at Waves?  The statute of limitations on the case has now expired.

On their website, Pivot states that in talking to Downtown Eastside residents, "[W]e’ve heard a lot of stories about harassment and abuse by private security guards, and after hearing several similar stories about negative interactions between private security guards at Harbour Centre from both mall employees and low-income people, we knew we needed to take action on this case."

Myself and other contributors to this site support Pivot's decision to sue Fusion.  But the same stories abound about public security guards at Carnegie and other organizations on the Downtown Eastside.  Pivot doesn't even mention them.  It's almost as if public sector unions pay protection money so that Pivot will look the other way.  I wonder how much Pivot gets in donations from unions.

I wonder if Fusion could add to their defense the fact that Pivot is advertising for residents to bring them cases about private security guards, and demonstrating blatant bias by giving a wink 'n a nod to abuses by public security guards in the same neighbourhood.  Pivot activist-lawyers put up posters throughout the Downtown Eastside, even on the walls of Carnegie Centre just feet from where public security guards routinely verbally or physically abuse the poor, encouraging people to give them cases against private security guards.  ["J" never reads posters; he has complained in the past about missing events because he never reads posters.]  Maybe Fusion will have the money to expose Pivot biases because Downtown Eastsiders don't.

Thanks for the Grapes, Jimmy.

Photo: Steven, a cashier at Superstore

At Metrotown Mall, Superstore has lower food prices, but Save On Foods has better customer service. In fact, the customer service at Save On is amazing.

I was at Metrotown on Saturday doing some shopping, and I bought some grapes on sale for $1.78 a pound at Save on Foods.

When I got home, and looked through my shopping bags, I didn't have that bag. So the next day, I phoned Customer Service at Save On and asked if they'd found my bag. I said I was going out that way again so if they'd found the grapes, I'd pick them up. They hadn't. "It doesn't matter," I told the clerk, "they were only $1.78" -- I remembered the total because it had been been the same as the price per pound. The clerk told me to drop by and he'd replace them.

And he did.

Contrast that with Superstore at Metrotown. A former Downtown Eastsider was telling me in early November about her encounter with the cashier from hell at Superstore. His name was Steven. I told her that if she got his photo, I would write him up.

When the customer was going through the check-out, Steven treated her like a shoplifter. He wanted to check her shopping bag. Fair enough: she was carrying a Superstore bag with her lunch in it. When she didn't object to him checking it, he lost interest. "He didn't open it, he just squeezed my pita sandwich. And he made a face, like yuck."

With all this fuss, Steven forgot to ask the customer if she wanted a plastic bag for her groceries. So after she paid, she asked him for one, but by this time he was on to the next customer. "He said no," she exclaimed. "He wouldn't give me one," she said, shaking her head in amazement. I agree with her that this is odd, as I've had busy cashiers at Superstore forget to ask me if I want a plastic bag, so they just hand me one instead of getting bogged down over five cents.

Steven did eventually toss this customer a bag, reluctantly. "I was tired of him blaming me so I said, 'It was your mistake, you know.' "

After packing her groceries, she realized she needed a second bag. "I wanted to double-bag [the groceries]; they were heavy." Steven told her she couldn't have another bag, and he turned back to his customer. So she spotted a plastic bag lying on the floor. "It was dirty; people were trampling over it." She picked it up and was putting her other bag into it, when Steven turned around. "Soooo, you took one anyway," he said accusingly. "He was livid." She told him she had picked it up off the floor.

Steven demanded that she pay him five cents for that bag and another five for the other bag. "I pay for bags there all the time but I'm not going to pay for a filthy bag off the floor."

Steven called the supervisor. The supervisor defended Steven. She said all bags had to be paid for. "Not a dirty one off the floor", the customer recalled saying. "Yes," said the supervisor, even a dirty bag must be paid for. But the supervisor let it go, this time.