Cambie Street merchants get go-ahead for Canada Line class-action lawsuit
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted class-action status to Cambie Street merchants suing for damages they claim resulted from nuisance during the construction of the Canada Line.
Heavy-duty open-trench work on the 19-kilometre line took place from 2005 to 2009. The new SkyTrain line opened last fall, by which time some businesses had either closed down or relocated.
“The complaints among the proposed class members are similar,” Justice Ian Pitfield wrote in a judgment released February 8. “The common allegation is that construction substantially interfered with access to the properties or businesses owned or operated by members of the class.”
Pitfield added that the “common nature of the class complaint favours certification”, rather than a “multi-party action” or individual test-case actions being pursued. He said this is due to the fact no individual grievance outweighs issues common to the whole class.
Those listed as plaintiffs are Gary Gautam, owner of Cambie General Store; George and Jane King, former operators of G. King Photo-Colour Ltd. at Cambie and 15th Avenue; and numbered company 557856 B.C. Ltd, doing business as retail furniture business Sofa So Good.
They are suing Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc., Intransit BC Limited Partnership, Intransit British Columbia G.P. Ltd. and SNC-Lavalin Inc.
Pitfield also explained that the plaintiffs are claiming they can waive “damages for the tort of nuisance” and require that the defendants “disgorge the benefit that they derived by employing the cut and cover, as opposed to the bored tunnel, method of construction”.
This would mean the defendants would be liable to distribute the money they saved by switching from the planned bored tunnel to an open-trench method, which was cheaper but more disruptive on the surface level for customers seeking out stores along the commercial strip from West 2nd Avenue south to West King Edward Avenue.
In the end, Pitfield stated that the class action can proceed under the following guidelines: “Did the cut and cover tunnel construction of the Canada Line substantially interfere with the use and enjoyment of property by owners or by business proprietors on Cambie Street from 2nd Avenue to King Edward Avenue?”
Pitfield’s judgment mentions that a multi-party action on behalf of 41 plaintiffs was filed on January 14, 2010.
Pitfield also mentioned that the awarding of $600,000 in damages to former Cambie merchant Susan Heyes following his ruling last May is now under appeal.
Comments
2 Comments
glen p robbins
Feb 13, 2010 at 11:33am
This is important litigation. There has been a very clear breach of contract--by the Gordon Campbell government. The defendants ought to include the politicians who misrepresented the method of construction.
If the Supreme Court finds there is specific businesses losses directly attributable to this misrepresentation, then they ought to hammer the government with significant damages.
If the Reasons come out like I expect they ought to, then the very stupid arguments advanced by mainstream press relating to precedent and government works generally will be rendered non-starter, as the precedent in this case ought to reflect where the BC Liberal government lied about methodology.
Thereafter, governments will be precise and truthful about methodology so that everyone in the market place, can operate on the same information when signing contracts -- leases etc.
John Q Public
Mar 10, 2010 at 2:00pm
I didn't realize the significance of the change in methodology (bored tunnel versus open trench). That's a really big issue, as this turned what was *advertised* to have been a minimal disturbance to a devastating 3 year one as, often times, one had to fight tooth and nail to reach some of those affected businesses.