Class Action Defence Class Action Defence

Court of Appeal holds that class members similar to regular parties, cannot hide identity

In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of Essex County v Windsor (City), the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that the deemed undertaking rule...

Supreme Court to hear arguments about enforceability of arbitration clauses

The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal in Uber Technologies Inc., et al. v. David Heller. At issue is an arbitration clause in the Uber driver...

Wellman v. TELUS: Supreme Court emphasizes enforceability of arbitration provisions

In its 5-4 decision in Wellman v. Telus, the SCC confirmed the enforceability of arbitration provisions in the context of business (i.e.,...

Not all class action settlements will prevent defendants from being sued again

When a settlement of a class action is achieved and approved by the courts, class action defendants expect that the settlement will be final and they...

Motions to strike miss the mark in dismissing class action claims involving contractual interpretation

Determining whether to bring a motion to strike is often a critical strategic decision at the early stage of a class action. The recent Ontario Court...

Welsh v Ontario: Court cannot unilaterally amend class action settlement

In a previous post, we discussed Justice Perell’s decision in Welsh v Ontario ordering class counsel to make a sizeable charitable donation as...

Climate change litigation arrives in Canada

The ENVironnement JEUnesse lawsuit in Québec and the City of Victoria’s endorsement of a class action lawsuit against oil and gas producers for...

Ontario Court of Appeal applies foreign law, dismisses cross-border class action

On December 21, 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Das v George Weston Limited (“Das”), a proposed class action...

Defendant access to third-party funding agreements in Canadian class actions

We have written previously about the arrival of third-party funding agreements in class action litigation in Canada. As part of that evolving trend,...

Paradis Honey: Federal Court chooses sides on sticky issue of post-certification discovery

The ambit of post-certification documentary discovery is a contentious issue. Is it limited by the certified common issues, or are the parties’...