Some parents sue Quebec private schools for going virtual in pandemic, appalling others

Some Quebec parents were surprised to learn there's a class action lawsuit in their names against their kids' private schools -- for the offence of shutting down physical classes during the first wave of the pandemic.

The complaint before the court is that 113 private schools, mostly in Montreal and the city's suburbs, didn't provide the full services promised in their contracts after the government ordered them to move online in March 2020.

They should be on the hook for a partial refund, argued the plaintiffs. That could be about 40 per cent, earlier court documents suggested.

The legal battle started in summer 2020, when two parents from the suburb of Longueuil took issue with their two children's private school, Charles Lemoyne, failing to issue any refunds for that spring.

The grievance turned into a class action with an estimated 47,000 members that was authorized this summer.