By Canadian Press

Judge rejects lawsuit tied to controversial 2017 Montreal Formula E car race

Dec 23, 2024 | 1:18 PM

MONTREAL — An entrepreneur who sued the City of Montreal for not considering his bid to organize a 2017 electric car race has failed in his effort to obtain more than $3 million in compensation.

A judge suggested there’s no proof Alexandre Choko would have made money even if he had been selected to run the much-criticized Formula E event, which was cancelled after one year with a deficit of more than $17.7 million.

Choko sued in 2018 after Montreal’s auditor general released a report that accused former mayor Denis Coderre of circumventing rules in his handling of the race.

Choko alleged that Coderre and his office bypassed a law that would have required a call for tenders by using the cover of a non-profit that was able to directly hire event management company Evenko.

Superior Court Justice Louis Charette concluded in a Dec. 4 ruling that while the city acted wrongly, Choko failed to demonstrate he had been harmed, because there was no proof he would have been selected to promote the event, much less made money.

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The Formula E was intended to run for three years in Montreal but the first edition sold only 25,000 tickets and was considered a flop, leading Valérie Plante to cancel it after she defeated Coderre in the 2017 mayoral race.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press