Confederation Line builder the latest to sue over project

The builder of the Confederation Line says the city of Ottawa is trying to double dip on losses due to a sinkhole.

Ottawa’s troubled Confederation Line is now getting peppered with lawsuits.

After the city sued both the Rideau Transit Group, which designed, built and is currently maintaining the 12.5-km line, and its own insurance companies, the Rideau Transit Group has turned around and has sued the city of Ottawa for $225 million.

All of the lawsuits center around the Rideau Street sinkhole back in 2016. The Rideau Transit Group believes the city is trying to pull in a “double recovery” by suing both the contractor and the insurance companies. Rideau Transit Group’s counterclaim states the damages claimed by the city are excessive, exaggerated and remote. The builder says the costs the city incurred during the sinkhole incident were the city’s own fault.

The countersuit also claims delays caused by the sinkhole are an “excusable delay” under the contract, the city was 10 months late approving the design book for the French-made Alstom train, which delayed production of the trains, and the city did not accept Rideau Transit Group’s application that the Confederation Line was substantially complete on April 29, 2019, because the city said the trains were “deficient.”

The countersuit includes a claim for Rideau Transit Group to have $31 million returned of what the city “unlawfully withheld” when it paid its final bill to the builder.

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