Quebec motorists apply for class action status in lawsuit against government arising from snow storm

MONTREAL – Lawyers on behalf of motorists left stranded in their cars on a highway after Tuesday’s snowstorm applied on Thursday for a class action lawsuit against the Quebec government and City of Montreal.

Plaintiffs are seeking $2,000 for each of the 500 people they estimate were caught in a traffic bottleneck after a truck crashed on the city’s Highway 13 Tuesday evening.

Many motorists had to spend the night in their vehicles as the city was blanketed with about 40 centimetres of snow.

Plaintiffs say the provincial and city governments “failed in their obligations” to manage the road block.

“The members of the group were imprisoned in their vehicles for 10 hours, in the cold, with limited – or even non-existent – information on rescue efforts,” the suit alleges.

The plaintiffs are asking a Superior Court Justice to approve their class action application.

The allegations contained in the lawsuit have not been proven in court.