Players in Ottawa's taxi industry are applauding a move to sue the City of Ottawa for $215 million for new rules that will allow ride-hailing companies like Uber to start operating legally at the end of September.

The suit was filed Friday by the parent company of Capital Taxi and Marc Andre Way, whose family owns the largest number of taxi plates in the city. If the suit is successfully certified as a class action, it could cover about 1,000 individuals who were plate owners or taxi brokers on or after Sept. 1, 2014.

Plate owner loses trust in city

Bahador Ayoubzadeh is a single plate owner who would fall into that class action. He said he hopes it will be certified and proceed.

"I didn't gamble, I worked hard for my investment and they shouldn't do this to me," he said.

Ayoubzadeh started working in the taxi industry about 25 years ago after his family moved from Iran. He bought his plate for $96,000 in 1994 but is now questioning his decision.

"Back home I lost all my pension, my retirement, everything," said Ayoubzadeh. "When I came here I trusted the city and I bought this plate...but unfortunately the city is not fair to us."

City to defend claim vigorously

The city says it will vigorously defend the claim that alleges it did not take "reasonable steps to maintain the integrity" of the taxi regulations in a way that would not financially harm taxi plate owners.

Bill Parmar wouldn't fall into the class-action lawsuit if certified, but says he thinks it's the right thing to do. (CBC News) The claim also alleges the city took "vastly inadequate steps to enforce the regulatory scheme against Uber drivers," when they began operating in Ottawa in the fall of 2014.

"It's not a fair competition," said taxi driver Bill Parmar who agrees with the lawsuit, even though he doesn't own a plate.

"They have no laws to follow and the city's not doing anything at all," he added.

City solicitor Rick O'Connor wrote in an email that neither he, nor anyone from the city, will be commenting on this case while it is before the courts