Pharmaprix agrees to pay out 2-billion Optimum points to settle lawsuit
Quebec Superior Court justice must still sign off on the agreement.
A Quebec consumers' rights group has come to an agreement that could settle a long-standing class action over the Optimum points program offered through Pharmaprix, part of Loblaw's pharmacy business.
Option consommateurs says in a statement that Pharmaprix, the name under which Shoppers Drug Mart chain operates in Quebec, has agreed to pay 2,354,032,174 Optimum points worth $4,350,102 under their deal.
Both the group and Loblaw noted that the settlement isn't an admission of liability by the company and requires court approval.
The group filed a class-action against Pharmaprix in 2010 seeking compensation after the company changed its Optimum points program in 2008, 2009 and 2010, devaluing the value of the points.
A spokeswoman for Loblaw said the company maintains that it operated in full compliance with the law when it changed the Optimum program.
A Quebec Superior Court justice must still sign off on the agreement and a hearing is scheduled for Sept. 6 in Montreal.
At the time that a Quebec judge authorized the class action in 2012, an estimated 1.4 million people in Quebec were members of the program.