Merchants redressed for tunnelling work

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has awarded three Vancouver merchants more than $180,000 as compensation for financial hardship experienced during Canada Line construction on Cambie Street between 2005 and 2009.

Leonard Schein, owner of Park Theatre; Gary Gautam, owner of Cambie General Store; and Dale Dubberley, owner of Thai Away Home argued that the cut-andcover tunnelling that ripped up a section of Cambie Street for three years greatly restricted access to their businesses and ate into their revenue.

“I can find nothing in the evidence to suggest that the loss of profitability in fiscal 2007 and 2008 was due to any other factor than the work,” Justice Christopher Grauer wrote in his judgment. “What made the construction intolerable, resulting in unreasonable interference, was the extended time over which access was restricted.”

Schein told court that Park Theatre profits dropped significantly during construction. His net income was $110,282 for fiscal year 2006, but dropped to $11,737 in 2007, $13,577 in 2008 and $26,759 in 2009.

TransLink has been ordered to pay Schein $128,880, Dubberley $44,560 and Gautam $7,600.

The three plaintiffs were part of a class-action lawsuit launched in 2014 by more than 200 Cambie Street merchants against TransLink, Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc., contractor SNCLavalin and others.

Lawyer Paul Bennett, who was representing the class-action members, argued in his opening statements that SNC-Lavalin and TransLink should have constructed a bored tunnel along Cambie Street between 6th Avenue and King Edward to reduce the impact on merchants.

“The construction of the Canada Line tunnels using the cut-and-cover method of construction transformed Cambie Village into an intense and extensive construction zone for more than three years while the Canada Line was constructed,” said Bennett.

Schein, Dubberley and Gautam were pulled out of the classaction and their suit was put forward as a test case.

The ruling sets a potential precedent for other judgments still to come.

In 2009, Susan Heyes, owner of Hazel Co., was awarded $600,000 in damages as compensation for the construction that disrupted her sales from 2005 to 2008.

However, that judgment was overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2011.