A couple from Hong Kong is suing Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido in B.C. small claims court for allegedly mishandling their application for permanent residency.

Koon Ning Siu and Koon Chai Chan filed a notice of claim in a Vancouver court this past January claiming that Peschisolido’s failure to notify them about important demands from the Hong Kong Consulate General caused their application to be refused.

They are seeking $6,457.84 in damages.

Peschisolido, who represents the Vancouver-area riding of Steveston-Richmond East, told iPolitics in a statement that he didn’t directly manage Siu and Chan’s file, though said there would be an “out of court” settlement with the two. A payment, though, has not been made at this time, he said.

Peschisolido added he has notified the Liberal Party about the notice of claim filed against him.

In the notice, Siu and Chan said they retained Peschisolido’s services in January 2015 to apply and obtain permanent residency status in Canada at a cost of $4,741.84, after taxes.

The address for Siu and Chan on the filing is listed on Google as belonging to Vancouver law firm Chen and Leung. However, its website says the firm has since moved to a different part of Vancouver. A phone call and message seeking further details about the claim that was left with Chen and Leung was not returned before publication.

After Peschisolido prepared an application for the couple, the Consulate General sent the lawyer an email in May 2016 requesting Chan to provide a criminal check from the RCMP by July 17, 2016, the notice reads.

The Consulate then sent another email to Peschisolido in October of that year as a “final reminder” that Chan’s criminal record check was needed to finish processing his application, giving November 24 as a deadline to receive it, according to the filing.

Siu and Chan said they weren’t advised of any of the emails, and claim that Peschisolido and his firm didn’t obtain and submit Chan’s record check to the Consulate before the deadline.

The Consulate then told Peschisolido in a letter dated Jan. 13, 2017 that Chan’s application didn’t qualify for permanent residency because of his failure to provide a criminal record check, but Peschisolido didn’t tell Siu or Chan about the refusal until Feb. 2, 2017, the notice claims.

Two days later, Chan says he flew from Vancouver to Hong Kong on short notice for $1,150 to obtain a criminal record check. The next month, Siu and Chan said they retainted another law firm that successfully repealed the refusal, which they say cost $4,978.37.

“As legal advisor to Siu and Chan, Peschisolido and Law Corp owed them a duty of care,” reads the notice.

“Peschisolido and Law Corp breached that duty of care by failing to advise Siu and Chan about the First and Second emails.”

However, Peschisolido said Siu and Chan’s file was handled by an associate of his firm — Peschisolido & Associates — and as of spring 2015, he had shifted his focus to running in the federal election set for that fall and was not “actively” practicing law.

After winning election, Peschisolido said he was focused on his duties as MP, while the associate in charge of Siu and Chan’s application left Peschisolido & Associates at the end of December 2016 and transferred the file to another law firm.

The MP said he didn’t check the emails that came to the email account via Peschisolido & Associates, and he didn’t realize the “representative form on the file matter had not been changed since the transfer of the file to another law firm,” meaning emails were still being sent to the email account originally tied to the application.

In spring 2016, all files of Peschisolido’s law corporation were “moved to an off-site storage,” and the office was then sub-leased, according to Peschisolido.

“For these reasons, I did not receive mail pertaining to Mrs. Siu and Mr. Chan,” he explained.