By Victoria Delicata, 2L The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has offered its first interpretation of the legislative amendments to the certification test. As outlined by Justice Perell in Banman v Ontario (“Banman”), and reaffirmed by Justice Akbarali in Grozelle v Corby Spirit and Wine Limited (“Grozelle v Corby Spirit”), the new preferable procedure criteria create a more “rigorous” and “stricter” threshold for proposed representative plaintiffs to meet. It is important to inquire about what this stricter test means for those pursuing certification of an action as a class proceeding. Outli ..read more

The Class Action Clinic at Windsor Law is hiring up to four law students to work full-time (12-14 weeks) in the summer of 2024. In previous summers, the Clinic has employed law students from McGill, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto and Windsor. Students from all law schools are invited to apply, though preference will be given to Windsor law students. Students will work under the supervision of staff lawyer, Andrew Eckart, and Clinic Director, Professor Jasminka Kalajdzic, and can do so either remotely or in person in Hamilton or Windsor. OUR MISSION + SERVICES The Class Act ..read more

By Nina Zibar, 2L On January 5, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a supervising judge’s interpretation that claimants under the Indian Day Schools Settlement Agreement (IDSSA) may not change the level of compensation they initially claimed even if no decision has been made regarding their application. The decision not only exposes the challenges trauma survivors face in settlement claims processes, but also prompts questions about whether courts are effectively meeting all three objectives of class actions or inadvertently prioritizing some over others. History of Ms. Waldron’s Applicat ..read more

By Jessica Rocha, 2L Class actions aim to enhance access to justice, create judicial efficiency, and seek to promote behaviour modification. At first glance, these objectives appear to align well with the interests of litigants who are survivors of sexual assault. In recent years, the number of class actions resolving human rights disputes has surged. Well-known cases such as the Canadian Armed Forces-Department of National Defence Sexual Misconduct Class Action Settlement, Cadets class action, and the Leduc class action have employed class proceedings as a means to provide justice to sexual a ..read more

By Homa Aminnejad, 3L The Alberta Court of Appeal recently overturned the lower court’s denial of certification in VLM v Dominey, 2022 ABQB 299. The case against the Alberta government and the Synod of the Diocese of Edmonton involves allegations by over a dozen men, accusing the late Anglican priest, Gordon William Dominey, of sexual assaults against youth inmates at the Edmonton Youth Development Centre between 1985 and 1989. This case is significant as the Court of Appeal not only narrowed the application of the “some basis in fact” standard for the preferable procedure criterion but also s ..read more

By Isabel Cox, 3L Introduction While class actions are often celebrated for advancing access to justice, in the antitrust law context their primary goal may be to deter anti-competitive behaviour. In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada held that indirect purchasers can bring claims against sellers to recover losses incurred from the passing down of unlawful overcharges (Pro-sys Consultants Ltd v Microsoft Corporation, 2013 SCC 57). An indirect purchaser is one who buys a product down the chain of distribution. For example, an indirect purchaser may be a consumer who purchased a device made up o ..read more

By Isabela Bibulovic, 3L, Lincoln Alexander School of Law Introduction Data breaches have become acute in the post-covid age. In just two years, ransomware payments have increased in Canada 51.6% but “only 42% of organizations who paid the ransom had their data completely restored” (National Cyber Threat Assessment 2023-2024). Legislators have imposed compliance requirements on private-sector entities following data breaches (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act [PIPEDA]) but affected users often find themselves without compensation. Consequently, many have turned to cl ..read more

By Shirin Mollayeva, 3L, Lincoln Alexander School of Law With a growing environmental consciousness around the world, it is no surprise that courts are having to grapple with the climate change crisis in litigation. Most such litigation alleges constitutional and human rights violations, negligence, fraud and deceit, among other causes of action, against corporations and governments. Most cases have originated in the United States and have been met with varying success in recent years. With its generally inadequate performance on environmental report cards on account of its energy consumption ..read more

GUEST BLOG BY SUZANNE CHIODO, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, OSGOODE HALL LAW SCHOOL Yesterday morning, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in Doucet v The Royal Winnipeg Ballet,[1] an appeal involving additional payments to representative plaintiffs (‘honorariaâ€) for their service to the class. This issue has been subject to conflicting treatment at the Superior Court level[2] (and in the appeal courts in the United States),[3] and I address it in greater detail in an article that is forthcoming in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.[4] The Divis ..read more

For survivors of sexual abuse, there are many different routes for seeking justice such as criminal proceedings or suing for financial compensation. Class actions provide another avenue for survivors of institutional or systemic abuse which, for class members who are not required to testify throughout the proceedings, may provide for a less traumatizing process. Nonetheless, there is always room for improvement regarding the experiences of class members involved in these difficult cases. Authors Sydney McIvor and Brittany Townâ€s November 2022 paper in The Canadian Class Action Review&nbs ..read more