Class Actions

Ranking

Practice Area Definition

Though well established in the US, class action litigation is relatively new to Canada. Québec was the first Canadian jurisdiction to allow a group of individual plaintiffs to proceed as one against a defendant or group of defendants in the 1978 amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure (Articles 999-1051). More recently Ontario and BC have each enacted a Class Proceedings Act (1992 and 1995, respectively) to set guidelines for collective actions. Nova Scotia has less class-action-specific legislation, its Representative Actions Act, which allows a single plaintiff to bring action on his/its own behalf and that of others in a group. Some of the principal areas for class action work include personal injury matters (e.g., tainted blood, defective medical products, breast implants), commercial loss (e.g., securities matters such as Bre-X), and defective products (automobiles, building products, etc.).

Please note that the Directory has separate sections for LITIGATION – CORPORATE COMMERCIAL and LITIGATION – SECURITIES.