Class action lawsuits are court actions filed on behalf of numerous persons or a group of persons (the plaintiffs in the case) claiming to have been injured by a single or numerous entities or persons (the respondents).
Class action lawsuits are recognized in Canada. They are one of the prevailing lawsuits used by plaintiffs to recover damages against a respondent, by way of a right, responsibility, or negligence on the part of the respondent.
What are Canada's largest class action settlements?
There are numerous large class action settlements across Canada’s history considering the amount of settlement the parties have reached and the social impact it made after the award of the settlement.
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA)
Considered to be the largest class action settlement in Canada because of the number of its plaintiffs, the amount reached by the settlement, and the effect that is has on the relationship between the government and Indigenous Peoples, is the case of Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
The IRSSA has its deeply historical and Indigenous roots which began when in 1828, “Indian”, as they were called back then, residential schools were opened across Canada, which were funded by the Canadian government but dominantly run by Christian churches.
The main objective of this system of “boarding schools” is the cultural assimilation of Indigenous Peoples – the First Nations, the Métis, and the Inuit peoples – into modern Canadian society. By law, under the Indian Act, families of Indigenous Peoples were “legally forced” to send their children to these residential schools. Around 150,000 Indigenous children were housed in these residential schools until the last one was closed in 1996.
From there on and based on the accounts of the former Indigenous students at these residential schools, numerous abuses were recorded. The list of abuses included physical, mental, and sexual abuse and harassment of children, mainly committed by the school’s administrators and teachers. This was in addition to the sufferings by the Indigenous children because of the poor living conditions in these schools, and by the very fact that they were separated by the government from their families and their culture.
Survivors of these residential schools filed class action lawsuits against the federal government. In 2006, an agreement was reached for the IRSSA compensation package between the plaintiffs or survivors and their representatives; the Canadian federal government; and the Christian churches involved in the operations of the schools.
The IRSSA has different components for different claims of the respective plaintiffs. Each component has separate allotted budgets which are largely provided by the Canadian government, with contributions from the Christian churches involved in the IRSSA. These IRSSA components are:
- Common Experience Payment (CEP) – blanket compensation for former students with a total budget of $1.9 billion;
- Independent Assessment Process (IAP) – compensation for students who are victims of sexual abuses, serious physical abuse and other wrongful acts, where a total of $1.7 billion has already been released as of December 2012, but with cases still pending before Canadian courts;
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) – with an allocated budget of $60 million to document and preserve the stories and accounts of survivors;
- Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) – with an allocated grant of $350 million for its establishment;
- Commemoration Fund – with a budget of $20 million for national and community commemorative projects.
While CEP is the main agreement of the IRSSA, to include the other components would result to a total amount of around $40 billion for the whole IRSSA. This makes IRSSA the largest class action lawsuit in Canada, which has already spanned several decades from its filing, negotiations, and compensation roll-out which continues up to this day.
Other large class actions lawsuits in Canada
Aside from the Indian Residential Schools class action, there are other large class actions in Canada based on the number of plaintiffs and the amount of compensation.
Tobacco Companies Class Action
Several lawsuits were filed against the three largest tobacco companies or distributors in Canada – namely, Imperial Brands; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges; and Japan Tobacco International-Macdonald – for alleged crimes of perpetrating misleading information on the effects of smoking for its profit, which brought numerous diseases to its consumers, such as lung cancer, throat cancer, emphysema, among others.
The Quebec Superior Court in 1998 rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs awarding them with $15 billion for damages. However, the judgment’s execution is still pending due to the court suspensions when the tobacco companies sought protection before the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to extinguish its liabilities against these plaintiffs.
The best class action lawyers in Quebec would surely be able to assist plaintiffs in a case such as this.
Volkswagen emissions scandal
Separate class action lawsuits were filed against Volkswagen Group in numerous countries when it was found out that the actual nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions were intentionally altered by Volkswagen to meet laboratory standards, but the actual emissions of these chemicals are 40 times higher than those standards. In Canada, investigations started in 2015 and a settlement was reached in 2016 in the amount of $290 million.
How many people is needed for a class action lawsuit in Canada?
In a class action lawsuit in Canada, there is no definite number required to constitute a “class action lawsuit”. What the court would look at is the commonality of the damages or injuries suffered by a group or class of persons, and the soundness of their claims against the alleged entities or persons responsible for the said damages or injuries. Although, in the actual filing of the case in court, only one person or a couple of persons is necessary – called the class representative – to collectively represent all the injured members of the group or class before the court.
What is the average settlement in class actions lawsuits in Canada?
Typically, the amount of settlement awarded by courts in Canada would depend on the actual claim by the plaintiffs. It would also depend if such claim was proved by the plaintiffs during the court proceedings.
Additionally, the amount would also depend on the number of the individuals in the group – the larger the group, the larger the settlement.
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