Montreal
A Quebec Superior Court judge awarded $143 million to taxi drivers to compensate them for their losses following the arrival of ride-hailing services like Uber and the province’s 2019 law that abolished the taxi system.
Deregulating taxi industry and allowing Uber to operate was ‘disguised expropriation,’ ruling states
Antoni Nerestant · CBC News
· Posted: Jun 21, 2024 2:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago
Taxi drivers score partial victory in Quebec class actionQuebec taxi drivers have been awarded a further $143 million, plus interest, in addition to the $800 million handed out when the province deregulated the taxi industry to allow services like Uber to operate.
Years after the Quebec government deregulated the taxi industry to allow services like Uber to operate, taxi drivers in Quebec have scored a court victory to the tune of $143 million, plus interest.
On Friday, a Quebec Superior Court judge awarded the sum as part of a ruling in class-action lawsuit.
In 2019, Bill 17 was passed into law. The law abolished the taxi permit system while integrating app-based ride-hailing services into provincial regulations.
Around the time the law was passed, services like Uber were expanding their operations in the province, prompting anger and protests from taxi drivers who had spent tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, to purchase their taxi permits.
After the bill became law, the Quebec government doled out more than $800 million in compensation to taxi drivers in the province, but drivers didn’t believe that amount was enough to make up for their losses.
Taxi drivers organized several protests, like the one seen here in 2017, when ride-hailing services like Uber began expanding their operations in the province. (Lauren McCallum/CBC)The lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit, Dama Metellus, claimed that the appropriate compensation total should’ve been slightly more than $1.1 billion. Metellus was seeking roughly $300 million in extra compensation.
Justice Silvana Conte settled on a lower number in the end.
The plaintiffs tried to argue that compensation should be based on the market value of taxi permits as of 2014. The judge ultimately decided the compensation should be based on their value in 2016, the year the province launched a pilot project that allowed Uber to operate.
Despite awarding a lower sum than the plaintiffs had asked for, the judge described the 2019 law as “disguised expropriation,” agreeing with the claim made by the lead plaintiff.
Metellus said he was happy about the ruling, calling it a “matter of justice.”
“I always thought justice would ultimately prevail,” he told Radio-Canada.
The lawsuit had also sought $1,000 in punitive damages for each member of the class action, but the judge rejected that request.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Antoni Nerestant has been with CBC Montreal since 2015. He’s worked as a video journalist, a sports reporter and a web writer, covering everything from Quebec provincial politics to the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
