Tim Hortons Roll Up the Rim Contest Lawsuit Gets Green Light

A Quebec judge has ruled that a class-action lawsuit against Tim Hortons can move ahead, after a customer was mistakenly told he won a boat in the chain’s Roll Up To Win contest, according to CTV News.

You may recall the story from last year where $50,000 boat winners were told they were losers. The lead plaintiff got an email on April 17, 2024 saying he had won a brand-new Tracker Targa 18 WT boat and trailer. But later that same day, Tim Hortons sent a follow-up message, blaming “technical errors” and saying the prize notification was a mistake. The company apologized, but stood by its claim that “the millions of prizes won in the contest were distributed to winners accurately and as per our contest rules.”

In court, Tim Hortons argued that its emails didn’t count as a contract and therefore shouldn’t fall under consumer protection laws. But the judge disagreed. He pointed out that people had to buy something to enter the contest, so the promotion was part of a consumer transaction. He also noted that “an error in Tim Hortons’ declaration or a defect in its systems does not exempt it from liability.”

The lawyer behind the suit, Joey Zukran, says he now has three months to file the formal class-action application. He doesn’t yet know how many people might qualify to join the lawsuit, but said the case could take years—unless Tim Hortons settles.

Last year, Tim Hortons said it was ready to fight the matter in court. “Despite this human error, we firmly believe there is no merit to the lawsuit and we will address this through the court,” said a Tim Hortons spokesperson at the time. It will be interesting to see how this play out in court, or if Tim Hortons decides to settle.