Trucking company involved in many overpass crashes sues Maple Ridge
A BC trucking company that has made headlines over the past few years is now involved in a BC Supreme Court case against a Fraser Valley city.
Chohan Carriers and the Chohan Investment Group are bringing a case against the City of Maple Ridge worth $27 million with several claims against the city.
Some of those claims and allegations include that city reps made misrepresentations about a property in the Hammond neighbourhood that Chohan purchased for its freight operations.
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After Chohan purchased the property, “actions taken, or not taken, by the city” resulted in weight restrictions in traffic, eliminating Chohan’s ability to “maintain its operations, as it could not use the roads to do so.”
Chohan is calculating a $27 million loss between its holding and operating companies. At the same time, the City of Maple Ridge says it has not had the opportunity to thoroughly investigate the situation, including new documents submitted late last year, and has asked the Supreme Court for an adjournment.
Further, Chohan suggested it suffers from prejudice from being unable to use the property as intended, including “a rental to a freight or similar loading/trans-loading company.”
The trial was initially set for May 2022, but both parties agreed to reschedule it for June 2023. The June 2023 court date did not proceed because insufficient time was set aside for the parties to review the case. The latest trial date was scheduled for January 6, but the Supreme Court did grant the city an adjournment despite Chohan claiming the documents needing to be reviewed were irrelevant.
Chohan operated as Chohan Freight Forwarders when the overpass crashes occurred.
The BC government cancelled Chohan Freight Forwarders’ commercial trucking licence early last year following several overpass crashes.
“This is the most severe action that can be taken against a company with multiple infractions – and it sends a clear message to operators that infrastructure crashes around our province need to stop,” Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming said in a statement at the time.
The company was involved in six crashes in two years, which led to major delays on BC highways.
With files from Megan Devlin