Flooded people want to bring a class action against Montreal

Montrealers flooded during the torrential downpour of September 13, 2022 want to bring a class action against the City of Montreal, on behalf of all the citizens who suffered the same disaster, because they believe that it is the network of dilapidated municipal sewer which caused the flood, by its inability to absorb rainwater.

Six citizens of the Sainte-Marie and Hochelaga districts, residing on Adam, Nicolet, Parthenais and De Chambly streets, filed on March 10 at the Montreal courthouse this application for authorization to institute a class action, which must now be accepted by a judge before taking the course.

“There have been recurring flooding problems in the affected area on the Island of Montreal. These repeated events have occurred for several decades, most recently on September 13, 2022, and according to a Freedom of Information request there have been annual floods since 2013,” states the class action request. .

One of the representatives named in the application, Étienne Bouchard-Lamontagne, went door to door in the flooded areas, and met with citizens “who expressed feelings of anger and sadness because the mayor and the he Borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has not taken any significant action to protect them from flooding problems caused by insufficient storm sewers in the area and poorly maintained systems. Many of these members experience severe anxiety with each episode of heavy rain for fear it will lead to flooding,” the court document states.

For property damage, citizens are asking for compensation varying between $15,000 and $45,000, depending on the number of floods. They are also claiming between $7,000 and $22,000 to compensate for the fact that some can no longer insure themselves, or that their insurance premiums have increased.

A claim of $10,000 is added for each year of flooding, for loss of use of the property, and $25,000 per person for moral damages, to compensate for stress and inconvenience.

In addition, the application requires the City to take the necessary measures to prevent further flooding from occurring in the area.

Several citizens of the flooded sector had shared their setbacks, in a report published in February by The Press.

Mayor Valérie Plante’s office indicated that “the City is collecting extensive data on the state of the sector’s pipes” to determine the work to be done in the streets flooded last September.

The City of Montreal refused the 920 complaints sent by citizens following the floods of September 13, 2022, because it considers that they were rains of exceptional intensity. In episodes that occurred in previous years, all complaints were also refused.

Last October, the executive committee set aside $4 million to settle a class action brought by a group of citizens in the Rosemont neighborhood that were flooded four times in 2009 and 2011.

According to the settlement agreement, which must now be approved by the court, approximately 200 citizens will receive tens of thousands of dollars for material and moral damages. For example, the group’s representative, Eugène Robitaille, will be entitled to more than $67,000, plus interest calculated since 2009 and 2011.

The out-of-court settlement is signed without any admission of fault on the part of the parties, but the municipal authorities have repaired the sewer network in the area and taken measures to improve the absorption of the water.