Thursday, October 10, 2024
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Ottawa Taxi court case delayed again, until November 28, 2023

CTA president Marc Andre Way says that another delay in the Metro vs. Ottawa court proceedings is “very frustrating.”

The Metro Taxi vs City of Ottawa court case has been delayed yet again, as Justice Smith has pushed back the date for closing submissions to November 28-29, 2023.

These closing submissions, originally scheduled for July 4th and 5th were first moved to October 12th and 13th; now, they have been moved to November.

“Needless to say, this last minute cancellation is a rather frustrating development, particularly considering the preparation we have put into this hearing and the arrangements you have made to get people out,” says plaintiff Marc Andre Way. “I am sorry this has happened, yet again. 

“This delay seems to be due to Court scheduling problems – the first delay occurred because Justice Smith was scheduled to be in a jury trial, and the jury trial spilled over into our dates. Way told Taxi News.

“I’m not sure how much input Justice Smith has into his own scheduling,”

This important case, Metro Taxi vs Ottawa, was certified in 2018 and began hearings in January, 2023. Unlike the attempted lawsuit in Toronto, which was never certified, these hearings have delved deeply into Ottawa’s actions and lack of actions to enforce its own by-laws when ridesharing services like Uber began doing business in the city.