Tim Hortons Boat Giveaway Lawsuit Sinks in Appeal Court
A Quebec court has overturned a decision that allowed a class-action lawsuit against Tim Hortons to proceed, bringing an end to a legal battle over an erroneous email that told hundreds of thousands of Canadians they had won a fishing boat in the company's popular "Roll Up To Win" contest.
On April 17, 2024, Tim Hortons emailed approximately 500,000 customers across Canada telling them they had won a Tracker Targa 18 WT fishing boat and trailer through the Roll Up to Win contest. The prize was valued at an estimated $68,000 Cdn.
When some customers who'd received the email reached out to Tim Hortons for clarification and to claim their prize, the company sent a correction email explaining that the original email had been issued in error and apologized to recipients.
Jonathan Deschâtelets, a Quebec resident who participated in the company's Roll Up to Win promotion in 2024, was one of the thousands who received the email. During that year's annual event, Deschâtelets had played and won a three-month subscription to The Athletic, three coffees, and two prizes totalling 160 Tims points. However, he did not get a notification about winning the boat through the mobile app or online portal that provides access to the promotion and assigns prizes. He argued that Tim Hortons should be held to its announcement that he had won a boat, despite the company retracting the email.
Deschâtelets sought compensatory damages in a court filing in June 2025 "for the excitement, stress, and disappointment caused by Tim Hortons' negligent conduct," equal to the boat's value, and another $10,000 in punitive damages, according to CTV News.
While the initial lawsuit was able to proceed, a recent ruling by the Quebec Court of Appeal on October 9th, 2026 has effectively ended Deschâtelets pursuit. The Court of Appeal overturned the lower court's decision authorizing the lawsuit and stated that Tim Hortons would not have to deliver the boat or pay damages to customers who received the mistaken email.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the erroneous email did not establish an entitlement to the prize under Quebec's Consumer Protection Act. According to the legislation, a merchant is bound by statements made before or when a contract is formed, not by ones made afterward.
The court also noted that Deschâtelets had never received a notification about winning the boat and therefore had no reasonable expectation to be awarded the prize.
“One fact remains indisputable: the respondent never won the boat during the contest. The facts found to be established show that he peeled back 24 tabs and won 6 instant prizes. He never peeled back a tab indicating that he was the winner of a boat,” the court said, according to CTV.
“I find it difficult to see how, in this context, he can demand delivery of a boat that, according to the established facts, he never won ... He therefore fails to establish even the mere possibility of prevailing on the merits and to meet his burden of proof.”
The timing of the email was central to the decision. The promotion's official deadline for redeeming winning game pieces was April 12, 2024. The erroneous email was sent five days later on April 17. The court found that the email therefore fell outside the relevant protections under the Consumer Protection Act legislation. The issue was further compounded by Deschâtelets never having received a notification he'd won through the mobile app or online portal.
Deschâtelets’s lawyer, Joey Zukran, told CTV News he will review the court’s findings.
“The reality is that Tim Hortons once again erroneously announced to their customers that they won prizes, only to disappoint them shortly thereafter,” he told the outlet.
“And this is also the more problematic in the province of Quebec where such contests aren’t governed by any legislation and merchants are left to self regulate, which can create serious abuses and unfairness for the consumer.”
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