Supreme Court to hear case against Montreal suburb over unbearable traffic noise

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Canada’s highest court is set to hear an appeal from residents of a Montreal suburb who say they have suffered from years of unbearable traffic noise on their street.

The Supreme Court of Canada said in a decision published Thursday that it has granted a request for leave to appeal from a group of residents living on des Prairies Road in Brossard on Montreal’s South Shore.

The group filed a class action lawsuit more than a decade ago against the city, alleging they suffered from excessive noise from traffic on their quiet street, particularly due to development in the area and the link to the nearby Dix30 shopping centre.

A Superior Court judge approved their class action lawsuit and awarded them thousands of dollars in compensation.

She ruled there was “convincing” evidence that the volume of vehicle traffic — roughly 10,000 vehicles per day — caused “abnormal inconveniences.”

“Their accounts show that the traffic noise gives them no respite and that they are constantly exposed to it. Many have had to soundproof their homes; they cannot open their windows and have had to buy air conditioners or heat pumps,” wrote Justice Dominique Poulin in her Oct. 10, 2023, decision.

According to her ruling, residents who lived in the area since Dec. 31, 2009 were eligible for $2,000 for every year they lived on the street since Feb. 12, 2013.

Those who moved to the street after 2009 were eligible for $500 for each year they have lived there since Feb. 12, 2013.

However, the decision was overturned on appeal.

In its ruling last summer, the Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the class action suit and agreed with the City of Brossard that it had immunity because its conduct was the result of exercising political power to manage its territory.

The original lawsuit was filed in 2013.

The Supreme Court has not yet announced when it plans to hear the appeal.

With files from The Canadian Press