Achi news desk-
A University of Waterloo business law professor doesn’t expect a proposed class action lawsuit against Tim Hortons to succeed.
Montreal-based law firm LPC Avocats filed a class-action lawsuit with the Quebec Superior Court on Friday. According to the company, about 500,000 customers across Canada received the emails from the coffee giant on Wednesday, claiming customers had won a boat and trailer worth more than $68,000 from the Roll Up To Win contest.
The lawsuit seeks $10,000 in punitive damages for each customer who received the email and other potential damages.
Tim Hortons says the lawsuit has no merit
Tim Hortons apologized and asked customers to ignore the content of the email last week. The company told CTV News in an email that human error caused the incorrect information.
“When we became aware of the error, we quickly emailed guests informing them of the error and apologizing,” the email to CTV said. “Despite this human error, we firmly believe that there is no point in the lawsuit and we will handle it through the court.”
The lawsuit has yet to be approved, but a University of Waterloo business law professor said it’s asking a little too much.
“They’re probably not a strong basis for the kind of claim that’s being made,” said Darren Charters, a lecturer in the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo. “It’s likely that $10,000 per person would be a stretch.”
According to Charters, customers technically lost nothing.
“They didn’t lose anything they had. So it was an opportunity they lost,” Charters said.
Charters said the lawsuit would have to establish some type of breach of contract or violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
“It’s probably not enough, provided the company has put in place in pre-competition policy language that provides them with that,” Charters said.
LPC alleges that Tim Hortons violated the Consumer Protection Act, which states that merchants are obligated to make statements or advertisements about their services.
In 2022, Tim Hortons settled a customer privacy lawsuit by giving victims a free hot drink or food item.
Charters said something similar will likely happen in this case and doesn’t expect it to go to trial.
“Will it be settled in some nominal way? That’s more the likely outcome,” Charters said.
With more companies running e-contests these days, Charters said similar situations are likely to happen infrequently in the future. Better for businesses to deal with this before it reaches the courts.
“But often if you can get out in front of him and, ‘Hey, we’re sorry, here’s what we’re going to do for the inconvenience,’ that’s probably the better way,” Charters said.
More to come.
