Quebec taxi drivers awarded $143 million in class action lawsuit

Years after the Quebec government deregulated the taxi industry to allow services like Uber to operate, Quebec taxi drivers have now won a court victory worth $143 million plus interest.

On Friday, a Quebec Superior Court judge awarded the amount as part of a judgment in a class action lawsuit.

In 2019, Bill 17 was passed. The law abolished the taxi permit system and integrated app-based ride-sharing services into provincial regulations.

Around the time the law was passed, services like Uber were expanding their operations in the province, sparking anger and protests from taxi drivers who had spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands to obtain their taxi licenses.

After the bill came into force, the Quebec government paid over $800 million in compensation to the province’s taxi drivers, but drivers did not believe this amount was enough to cover their losses.

The class action’s lead plaintiff, Dama Métellus, claimed that the appropriate amount of compensation should have been just over $1.1 billion. Métellus sought approximately $300 million in additional compensation.

Judge Silvana Conte ultimately decided on a lower amount.

The plaintiffs tried to argue that compensation should be based on the market value of the taxi permits in 2014. The judge ultimately ruled that compensation should be based on their value in 2016, the year the province launched a pilot project that allowed Uber to operate.

Although the judge awarded a lower amount than the plaintiffs had demanded, he called the 2019 law a “disguised expropriation” and agreed with the lead plaintiff’s claim.

Metellus expressed his joy at the verdict and called it a “matter of justice.”

“I always thought that justice would prevail in the end,” he told Radio-Canada.

The lawsuit also called for a $1,000 penalty for each class member, but the judge denied that request.