Class-action parking lawsuit goes out with a whimper
UBC students holding out hope that their parking tickets issued by the university would have the same value as Zimbabwe currency were surely disappointed last week.
The Supreme Court of Canada tossed out a class-action appeal against the University of British Columbia, meaning the university will not have to repay the approximately $4 million they’ve collected in parking fees since 1990.
Last year at this time, it looked as though those dinged by the university over the years would get payback. The BC Supreme Court ruled that UBC, which isn’t under the municipal jurisdiction of any city, didn’t have the legal right to issue tickets/fine people/tow cars as it pleased. This greatly upset UBC, for the valid reason that they would lose $4 million, but also for the petty reason that it never like being told it can’t act like a city.
Luckily for the university, the provincial government stepped in last year to amend the University Act, allowing all BC universities to have jurisdiction over parking on their campuses. A few appeals by the university later against the original court ruling, and suddenly free parking only exists on a Monopoly board once again.