A housing co-op’s lawsuit is asking B.C. Supreme Court to evict a man who married his sister-in-law just before she died and now refuses to leave her home.
“I verily believe that this marriage was orchestrated by Mihajlo Tusa and Eileen Crysler to gain possession of Unit 254,” the late Margaret Crysler’s son Dan Crysler said in a sworn court document.
The suit, filed by the East Vancouver Kaslo Gardens Housing Co-operative, is asking the court to evict the man and two others who appear to be living there.
The notice of civil claim names as defendants the estate of Margaret Crysler and Margaret Crysler, Donna Crysler, Mihajlo Tusa, John Doe and Jane Doe.
The suit claims sister Eileen Crysler and Tusa appear to be common law partners based on an April co-op membership application.
“Notwithstanding that relationship, Tusa married Margaret on or about Aug. 2, 2023, shortly before Margaret Crysler died,” said the claim, filed Nov. 9 by lawyer Grant Haddock.
The claim said it doesn’t appear Tusa lived with Margaret while she was in residence.
Son Dan, also a co-op member, said in a court document that the marriage “does not seem to be for any other reason than to try to acquire my mother’s former unit in the co-op.”
His affidavit said his mother was “very sick” in August and “she did not appear to me to have the mental capacity to … consent to the marriage.”
And, the suit said, members are deemed to have withdrawn from the co-op if, among other things, they die.
Further, it said, rules say the right of a family member or others using the unit comes to an end.
On Sept. 20, the co-op sent a notice of membership withdrawal to Margaret Crysler after her death and posted a notice of termination on her door a week later.
Then, on Oct. 31, three co-op directors went to the unit where Tusa confirmed he would not be leaving.
Margaret’s son Dan said in a Nov. 9 affidavit Eileen Crysler and Tusa “are in a relationship of some form.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
