Canada

Canada

Canada is seeing an increased volume of class actions filed in Canadian courts and a broadening of the subject matter of those actions. In addition, Canadian plaintiffs’ lawyers are becoming more organized and willing to cooperate with U.S. attorneys to bring U.S.-like or cross-border class action cases in Canada. There are also ongoing attempts to liberalize some of the class action rules at the province level, which may foster forum shopping.

ILR recently completed a research paper on the latest class action developments in Canada. The paper, The Canadian Class Action Landscape: Getting Greener?, is below.

Issue Resources: Canada

The Canadian Class Action Landscape: Getting Greener? - new updated version

In their formative years, Canadian class actions produced little news to defendants’ liking, as case after case was certified for class treatment. Over the past three years, the environment has manifested change – but not all in the same direction. Some tribunals have become more circumspect about the wisdom and efficacy of aggregate litigation in the product-liability and toxic-tort contexts. At the same time, however, other elements of the Canadian judiciary have issued groundbreaking precedents that open the door to more class litigation. Despite pockets of positive developments, the overarching trend is an increased volume of class actions being filed in Canadian courts and a broadening of the subject matter of those actions.