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A covert investigation has led to charges against roughly 70 Uber drivers and a massive wave of cases set to hit the busy provincial bylaw court.

“We’ve set 70 or so for trial and they keep coming in,” said defence lawyer Paul Moreau, hired by Uber to handle them. “This is sucking up an enormous amount of resources. They’re having to adjourn other cases to make room for this.”

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In the first case, heard earlier this fall, the driver was acquitted. The City of Edmonton appealed to the Court of Queen’s Bench and that decision is pending. The second driver was convicted Wednesday. But that case will also be appealed, said Moreau.

The third and fourth cases started this week. Both are tied up with complicated legal debates about the admissibility of evidence: an emailed receipt from Uber to the undercover investigator and the details of what an Uber driver said to the investigator. The investigator, a retired police officer, secretly recorded the conversation without getting approval from a judge.