Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Tim Hortons after a man sued the coffee chain for mistakenly telling him he had won a boat worth nearly $69,000.
Jonathan Deschâtelets took part in the company’s Roll Up The Rim contest in 2024, winning several small prizes, including coffees, Tims points and a magazine subscription.
However, on April 17, 2024, he received an email saying he had won a Tracker Targa 18 WT boat with a 200-horsepower engine, valued at $68,751.
Tim Hortons later sent another email saying the first message, which went to nearly 500,000 Canadians, was sent in error and should be ignored.
Deschâtelets launched a class-action lawsuit, arguing that the company should honour the prize. He sought compensation equal to the boat’s value, along with $10,000 in punitive damages.
A Quebec Superior Court judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed in part in June 2025. However, Tim Hortons appealed the decision.
Court rules man did not win boat
In a ruling issued Friday, Quebec’s Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s decision, finding that Deschâtelets had not won the boat through the contest.
The court noted that he had opened 24 contest tabs and won six instant prizes, but none indicated that he had won a boat.
The appeal court ruled that he had not shown a reasonable basis for claiming the prize and rejected the request to authorize the class-action lawsuit.
Deschâtelets’s lawyer, Joey Zukran, said he was still reviewing the ruling.
Zukran criticized Tim Hortons for mistakenly telling customers they had won prizes before disappointing them with a correction. He also argued that Quebec’s rules for contests leave consumers vulnerable to unfair treatment.
