Class actions
To Disclose or Not to Disclose: SCC Grants Leave in Transportation Safety Board of Canada v Kathleen Carroll-Byrne, et al.
In Canada (Transportation Safety Board) v Carroll-Byrne, 2021 NSCA 34 [Carroll-Byrne], the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (“the Board”) sought to appeal the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia’s (“NSSC”) interlocutory decision (Carroll-Byrne v Air Canada, 2019 NSSC 339 [Air Canada]) to allow the conditional release of the contents of the cockpit voice recorder (“CVR”) of […]
A Low Threshold for Advancing Class Actions is Reaffirmed in Desjardins Financial Services Firm Inc v Asselin
In Desjardins Financial Services Firm Inc v Asselin, 2020 SCC 30 [“Desjardins”], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) engaged in a debate about how to properly assess the law of class actions in Quebec. While the words “respectfully disagree” were used by the majority and the dissent, the decision exhibits strong differences of opinion as […]
Atlantic Lottery Corporation Inc v Babstock: SCC Rejects Waiver of Tort in Class Actions
Canadian courts have struggled with whether a "waiver of tort" stands as an independent cause of action for certification under the Class Actions Act, SNL 2001, c C-18.1 [CAA] and other provinces' equivalent acts. A waiver of tort allows the plaintiff to forego damages and seek disgorgement of the defendant's profits from wrongful conduct. Therefore, […]
No “Rule of Uber”: Arbitration Clause Found Unconscionable in Uber Technologies v Heller
This summer, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Uber drivers can pursue their claim that they are employees in an Ontario court. In Uber Technologies Inc v Heller, 2020 SCC 16, a majority of judges held that a mandatory arbitration clause in Uber's driver contracts was unconscionable and thus invalid. The drivers’ proposed $400 […]
Pioneer Corp v Godfrey: SCC Gives Umbrella Purchasers an Umbrella from Indeterminate Liability
When it comes to class action plaintiffs, the Supreme Court giveth and the Supreme Court taketh away. The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “Court”) did their taking last April, in Telus Communications Inc v Wellman, 2019 SCC 19 [Wellman], when they ruled that business customers with arbitration clauses in their contracts are ineligible to […]
A Valid Arbitration Agreement is a Valid Arbitration Agreement
Consumers sign contracts to gain access to all kinds of goods and services, such as credit cards, cell-phone service, and internet. Increasingly, sellers and suppliers are putting arbitration clauses into these contracts, requiring buyers to resolve their disputes through arbitration. This is not necessarily because sellers are enamoured with the virtues of arbitration. Instead, they […]
1688782 Ontario Inc. v Maple Leaf Foods Inc. : Disenfranchised Franchisees Demand Tort Damages for Lost Profit
In 1688782 Ontario Inc. v. Maple Leaf Foods Inc., 2018 ONCA 407 [Maple Leaf], the Court of Appeal for Ontario (“ONCA”) evaluated whether a duty of care arose in the well-publicized case of listeria outbreak involving Maple Leaf Foods, which resulted in 22 deaths across Canada back in August 2008. The novelty facing the court was that […]
Pioneer v Godfrey : SCC to Decide if Damages Should Rain Down on “Umbrella” Purchasers
If you are not familiar with the term “umbrella purchasers,” you may very well be forgiven. In everyday conversation the term might simply be used to refer to someone who lives in an abnormally rainy place, or perhaps an individual that has regrettably lost yet another umbrella. In the legal world, however, umbrella purchasers take […]