Garrett Hunter

The plaintiff brought an unopposed motion to certify the proceeding as a class action under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The action alleges that the defendant improperly paid trailing commissions to discount brokers out of mutual fund assets.

The court found that all certification criteria were met, relying on previous decisions in similar cases, and granted the certification order.

The defendant in a proposed class action regarding mutual fund trailing commissions sought a direction that its proposed summary judgment motion be heard concurrently with the plaintiff's certification motion.

The court dismissed the request, finding that the summary judgment motion would require significant responding evidence, lengthy cross-examinations, and would increase expense and delay.

The court held that hearing the certification motion first would be more efficient and could narrow the issues for any subsequent summary judgment motion.