A trucking company is suing the City of Maple Ridge, B.C., and claiming $27 million in damages, for being unable to operate at a property in the city.

Chohan Carriers and Chohan Investment Group are accusing the city of “misrepresentation and misuse or misfeasance in public office,” with respect to the purchase of a property, according to a B.C. Supreme Court judge’s recent decision. The site was to be used for Chohan Carriers’ transloading and freight operations.

The court documents state that 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.”

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/transloading company.”

According to a 2017 news report in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News, the City of Maple Ridge closed Wharf Street to trucks after a tractor-trailer flipped on its side on the narrow street, where Chohan Carriers had been operating without a business licence.  

Chohan Carriers did not respond to a request for comment.

Chohan Carriers’ website takes you to Chohan Group of Companies web page, which states, “Chohan Carriers is dedicated to providing our clients with reliable, exceptional freight forwarding solutions.” The page also lists images of trucks with Chohan Freight Forwarders logos.

Licence canceled for overpass crashes

In February 2024, the B.C. government issued a formal cancelation notice to Chohan Freight Forwarders, after the carrier’s equipment crashed six times in two years into the province’s infrastructure.

Chohan’s hearing against Maple Ridge was to start Jan. 6 and run for 34 days but will be rescheduled. The judge noted the trial was originally set for May 2022, but the parties agreed to reschedule to June 2023. The matter did not proceed at that later date either, because not enough court time had been scheduled.

City officials sought an adjournment after the carrier and investment group introduced new financial information. The plaintiffs and the city will arrange a new time for the trial.