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The joint statement of defence says Ottawa Metro was incorporated as a family-owned business in 1993 and president Wehbe Wehbe has been the “controlling mind” of the company. Metro Towing, also a family-owned business, started in 2004 when Ahmad Wehbe and Hussein Wehbe decided to create their own business, separate from Ottawa Metro, the statement of defence says.

“As Metro Towing and Ottawa Metro share officers and directors and maintain a franchise arrangement, there are particular aspects of their businesses which are similar and or linked to maximize efficiency and minimize costs,” the Metro statement of defence says.

The court filings expose the intermingling of tow services in Ottawa, judging by the arguments made in the documents.

According to the Metro statement of defence, Gervais has used sub-contracted services of the Metro companies and also provided sub-contracted services to the companies. The statement of defence also suggests the Metro companies have been open about the family relationship and also a “family relationship between the Metro defendants and the employees of Gervais.”

The Metro companies point out that the city looked into Gervais’s previous complaints about collusion and dismissed them. The city hasn’t raised any concerns about the family relationship between the Metro companies and their operations, the statement of defence says.

The City of Ottawa, in its own statement of defence, has also denied the allegations in Gervais’s lawsuit.

Tow truck operators who work for other companies were at Ottawa City Hall on Monday protesting the alleged “monopoly” of tow services.

jwilling@postmedia.com

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