A trial opens Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit accusing the Quebec authorities of wiping out a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} within the worth of taxi permits by permitting ride-hailing firm Uber to function after which by abolishing the allow system.
The federal government’s negligence led to the disguised expropriation of taxi licences — with out correct compensation — in areas the place Uber was providing its providers, says the lawsuit by former allow holders.
Quebec allowed Uber to violate the legal guidelines and rules governing the taxi trade when the corporate began working within the province in 2013, “which led to a drop in demand for taxi house owners’ permits and an inevitable decline of their worth,” based on the assertion of declare.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that the province’s actions — together with the creation of a pilot undertaking in 2016 that legalized Uber’s operations in Quebec — contributed to the additional decline within the worth of taxi house owners’ permits earlier than they have been eradicated as a part of a 2019 taxi trade reform.
“By allowing the large entry of Uber automobiles below the quilt of a pilot undertaking, the federal government was negligent, acted in dangerous religion and intentionally brought about the group members’ permits to lose worth,” says the assertion of declare.
The Quebec authorities used to strictly regulate the variety of taxi permits in every metropolis within the province; for example, in 2015 Montreal was allowed to have 4,522. Because of this the value of permits soared, reaching roughly $200,000 in Montreal in 2015, making town’s market value roughly $900 million. Permits was once purchased and bought, and plenty of new taxi drivers took out loans to buy their proper to personal a taxi within the metropolis.
Associated: Quebec taxi lobby furious with Uber deal; considering legal action, protests
However when Uber entered the market, the worth of these permits started to drop, as new entrants didn’t wish to pay the excessive costs in an trade that was being disrupted.
Then in 2019, years after Uber began working in Quebec, the federal government adopted a regulation abolishing the allow system and loosened different rules. And whereas the federal government compensated allow holders, their attorneys allege lots of them obtained round $150,000 lower than the market worth of the permits earlier than Uber’s arrival within the province.
“In lots of instances, these permits represented the house owners’ most essential monetary asset, along with being their retirement plan and the legacy that they had deliberate to depart to their kids,” regulation agency Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, which represents the previous allow holders, stated in a information launch.
The category motion, which was licensed in 2018, seeks compensation equal to the market worth of a taxi proprietor’s allow earlier than Uber’s 2013 arrival in Quebec and $1,000 in punitive damages for every member of the group.
The Quebec authorities had argued that it couldn’t be sued for its political choices and claimed that the allegations within the lawsuit weren’t exact.
The workplace of Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette declined to touch upon Monday as a result of the case is earlier than the courts.
Characteristic picture: Taxi drivers participate in a sooner or later strike to protest new authorities rules in Montreal on Monday, March 25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
