Ottawa Taxi trial schedule changed
February Court dates being vacated in Metro Taxi vs City of Ottawa
As outlined in a letter sent jointly to Superior Court Judge the Honourable Justice Marc Smith on February 5th, 2025, the February court dates to consider damages in the Metro Taxi et al vs. City of Ottawa case have been abandoned.
Taxi News obtained a copy of the letter, which was jointly prepared by Todd Burke of Gowlings WLG, for the City of Ottawa; and Tom Conway of Conway Litigation, for Metro Taxi et al. Justice Marc Smith agreed to allow the parties to abandon the dates.
- Each party has advised the other that it does not intend to call its respective expert. The parties will rely on the evidence already tendered at trial.
- The case had been scheduled to proceed from February 10 to February 14, 2025.
- The parties intend to adhere to the remaining timetable established for this phase of the trial, namely:
March 7: Plaintiffs’ written closing submissions on common issue #5
March 28: Defendant’s written closing submissions on common issue #5
April 4: Oral argument on common issue #5
In May 2024, Justice Smith released his decision on liability for the three common issues that were tried in the Winter of 2023. He held as follows:
- Common issue #1: the City was negligent in enforcing the Taxi By-law from September 1, 2014 to September 30, 2016.
- Common issue #3: the City did not contravene the rights of taxi plate owners under the Charter or the Ontario Human Rights Code.
- Common issue #4, the fees collected by the City under the Taxi By-law did not constitute an illegal tax.
Justice Smith has not yet rendered a decision on Common Issue #5, the three liability common issues to be determined. The continuation of the trial deals with whether damages can be calculated in the aggregate.
