Rogers Is Facing A Class-Action Lawsuit Seeking $400 For Every Customer Who Lost Service

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Rogers by a Montreal law firm over the nationwide shutdown of the company's networks on July 8. If the case moves forward, the plaintiff will seek $400 in damages for every customer who lost service. The plaintiff pool would cover Rogers customers, along with those of companies that use Rogers cell towers, like Fido and Chatr.

While Rogers has promised a credit to those disadvantaged by the outage, the plaintiff in the case argues that a two-day credit of service is "wholly inadequate." He also contends that he was misled by Rogers’ marketing and especially claims that it was Canada’s most "reliable" network.

The case would seek compensation and punitive damages from Rogers. The $400 that would be sought from the company for each aggrieved customer would break down to $200 per member for the claim that Rogers "did not perform the service stipulated in the contract on July 8 - 9," and $200 for the claim that Rogers made false representations about the reliabitily of its network.

In addition to the main class of plaintiffs, non-Rogers customers "who could not operate with their own device or make transactions because of the Rogers outage," like debit card purchases and Interac e-transfers, would be included in the suit. The amount of damages for those people has yet to be determined.

The submitted file indicates wanting to hold Rogers accountable for negligence, particularly for those who couldn't make emergency calls, a service that is legally supposed to be available at all times.

Right now, the lawsuit is awaiting an authorization hearing before it can move forward.