Piechnik v. McFarlen. Adam Piechnik (referred to as P) is a professional photographer and website designer. Kiley McFarlen (referred to as M) is an arborist. In 2014, M hired P to design a website for his arborist business. In negotiations on the price of the contract, P estimated a price of $3500 or less and made a guarantee that the price would not exceed $5000.

Upon completion of the website, it was discovered that the website did not run properly on a number of different operating systems and web browsers. P also stated at the completion of the contract that the full price of the website was $5000, and sought payment for this amount from M.

M fired P.

P then sued M for breach of contract and claimed full payment for the website. M claims that P breached the contract by not delivering a working website and by exceeding the originally quoted price for the service.

Which party do you think breached the contract and why?

What remedy do you think that the court would grant in this circumstance?

This case is based on an actual case heard in BC Provincial Court. Why do you think it was heard in BC Provincial Court and not BC Supreme Court?