Golnaz Nayerahmadi

The Missanabie Cree First Nation moved to certify a class action on behalf of all Treaty 9 First Nations, seeking declarations and damages for alleged breaches of treaty obligations by Canada and Ontario.

The defendants opposed certification on the sole ground that a class action was not the preferable procedure.

The court held that the collective nature of treaty rights is incompatible with the opt-out mechanism of a class action, which risks fragmented outcomes and multiple proceedings.

The court found that a representative action, which allows individual First Nations to participate on their own terms without risking parallel interpretations, is a reasonably available and superior alternative.

The motion for certification was denied.

The plaintiffs brought a motion on consent for an order certifying a class action against the defendants regarding COVID-19 outbreaks at a retirement home.

The plaintiffs alleged the defendants were grossly negligent in their response to the pandemic, resulting in infections and deaths.

The court found the requirements of section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act were met and certified the action on the terms proposed by the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs brought a motion on consent to certify a class action against the defendants regarding their response to COVID-19 outbreaks at a retirement residence.

The plaintiffs alleged the defendants were grossly negligent in their infection prevention and control measures, resulting in preventable infections and deaths.

The court found that the requirements of section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act were satisfied and certified the action on the terms proposed by the plaintiffs.

The plaintiff sought certification of a class action under section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, alleging the defendant was grossly negligent in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic at Oakwood Park, a long-term care home.

The classes comprised residents and visitors who contracted COVID-19 and their family members during the period January 25, 2020 to May 5, 2023.

The defendant consented to certification.

The court found all five certification requirements satisfied, including cause of action, identifiable class, common issues supported by expert methodology on causation and damages, preferability of a class proceeding, and adequate representative plaintiffs with a workable litigation plan.

The plaintiffs brought a motion for certification of a class proceeding against Barrick Gold Corporation and its officers/directors for alleged misrepresentations regarding a mining project in South America.

The court certified the secondary market claims under the Securities Act and the common law negligent misrepresentation claims, but amended the class definitions and common issues to reflect prior leave decisions.

The court declined to certify the primary market claims, finding a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure for a class of two institutional investors.

The court also declined to certify common issues for aggregate damages due to a lack of expert methodology.

The plaintiffs were awarded $2.75 million in costs for the prior leave motions.

The defendants brought a motion to stay the Ontario class action as an abuse of process due to overlapping class proceedings in British Columbia and Québec.

The plaintiffs sought certification of the Ontario action.

The court dismissed the motion to stay, finding that the Ontario action was not a carbon copy of the others and offered a broader class definition and potential remedies, thus not offending principles of comity or amounting to an abuse of process.

The court also found that a class proceeding in Ontario was the preferable procedure for resolving the common issues, despite the parallel proceedings, and certified the action.

The plaintiffs' request to amend their claim to add a new statutory cause of action under New Brunswick legislation was denied.

Four organizations brought motions for leave to intervene in an appeal concerning the certification of a class action against the Province of Ontario and 49 Children's Aid Societies regarding the use of 'Birth Alerts'.

The appeal engages the continued application of the Ragoonanan principle, which requires a representative plaintiff to have a cause of action against each defendant.

The motion judge granted leave to intervene to the Class Action Clinic and Women of Class, and granted leave on limited issues to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, finding their perspectives would be useful to the court.

Two class action proceedings—one against TELUS Communications Company and related entities, and one against Bell Mobility Inc.—were brought by plaintiffs alleging that the defendants engaged in similar practices of rounding up seconds to minutes on cell phone bills.

The defendants moved to consolidate the two actions for trial or summary judgment.

The court granted the motion to hear the two summary judgment motions consecutively in a single three-week block of hearing time, finding that the common issues were identical and that separate proceedings would create an unnecessary multiplicity of litigation and risk inconsistent findings.

However, the court determined that the case management judge would not preside over the summary judgment motions, as the principles underlying Rules 37.15(1) and 77.06(2)—which prohibit a case management judge from presiding at trial without consent—apply equally to summary judgment motions.

This costs endorsement addresses the Plaintiff's entitlement to costs following an unsuccessful motion by the Defendants to amend the certification of a class action.

The court awards the Plaintiff $150,000 in costs, finding the Defendants' objections unpersuasive, particularly in the absence of their own Bill of Costs for comparison.

The court commends Plaintiff's counsel, especially Ms. Nayerahmadi, for effective advocacy.

On a certification motion in a proposed national product liability class action concerning talc-based baby powder and epithelial ovarian cancer, the court held that the plaintiffs met four of the five certification criteria for negligence, Competition Act claims, and consumer protection claims in several provinces.

The court struck or refused Ontario and Prince Edward Island consumer protection claims for lack of privity of contract, and indicated that Yukon and New Brunswick statutory claims required further submissions.

The court accepted that the plaintiffs' expert evidence provided a plausible methodology for proving general causation, negligent design and manufacturing, misleading representations, and punitive damages as common issues, while emphasizing that conflicting expert opinions were for trial.

The motion to stay for delay was dismissed because the delay was sufficiently explained and prejudice was not irreparable.

However, the duplication-based stay motion and the preferability analysis were adjourned pending the outcome of the British Columbia appeal.

The court dismissed TELUS’s motion to amend the certification order in a class action regarding alleged systematic overbilling of mobile phone customers.

TELUS sought to decertify aggregate damages as a common issue and to require individual inquiries into class membership, arguing that business and consumer customers could not be reliably distinguished.

The court found that TELUS’s arguments and evidence were not new and had already been addressed at certification.

The court reaffirmed that TELUS’s internal records and account types provide a sufficiently reliable basis for distinguishing between business and consumer customers, and that any residual issues can be managed administratively after the common issues trial.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal from the denial of certification of a class action alleging systemic negligence in the use of seclusion and restraint at a forensic psychiatric hospital.

The court found that the motion judge did not err in concluding that the claims lacked commonality, as the alleged wrongdoing could only be determined on an individual basis.

The court also upheld the dismissal of claims against individual hospital administrators and affirmed the costs award, finding no reversible error in the motion judge’s analysis.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed Shantanu Shirodkar’s appeal seeking to certify a class action against Coinbase Global, Inc. and its subsidiaries for alleged violations of securities laws.

The court upheld the motion judge’s findings that Ontario courts lacked jurisdiction over the non-Canadian Coinbase entities and that Ireland was the preferable forum for the claims, staying the action against Coinbase Canada as well.

The decision addresses the interpretation of forum selection clauses, the application of the “real and substantial connection” test, and the doctrine of forum non conveniens in the context of cross-border crypto-asset trading.

The Empowerment Council sought leave to intervene as a friend of the court in an appeal from the refusal to certify a proposed class action concerning psychiatric inpatients at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion, finding that the proposed intervener’s submissions were largely duplicative of the appellants’ and would not usefully contribute to the resolution of the appeal without prejudicing the parties.

This decision resolves a carriage motion between three proposed class actions seeking damages for investors in The Toronto-Dominion Bank, arising from alleged misrepresentations and failures to disclose anti-money laundering (AML) deficiencies.

The court concludes that the Parkin action is best suited to advance the class members’ claims efficiently and cost-effectively, considering the statutory criteria under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The decision addresses the impact of late registration of a class proceeding, the legal framework for carriage motions, the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each action, and issues of funding and counsel experience.

This motion concerned the approval of a proposed settlement and counsel fees in a national class action against pharmaceutical companies.

The class action alleged that the atypical antipsychotic medications ABILIFY and ABILIFY MAINTENA caused various compulsive behaviours due to inadequate warnings.

The court approved a $14.75 million settlement fund, which includes compensation for class members suffering psychological harm, residual catastrophic injury, and financial loss, as well as honoraria for representative plaintiffs and class counsel fees.

The court found the settlement to be fair and reasonable, falling within the 'zone of reasonableness' despite objections from some class members regarding compensation adequacy and counsel fees.

The Plaintiffs in multiple class actions brought an omnibus motion for approval of a proposed notice plan, including direct notice and production orders from Defendants, following a complex certification decision where some actions were certified, some partially, and some dismissed.

The court denied the request for direct notice and associated production orders, finding it would impose a substantial and undue burden on defendants, particularly those against whom certification was denied.

The court also noted that such production could be seen as an attempt to solicit new representative plaintiffs or re-litigate issues already decided at the certification stage.

An indirect notice strategy was approved, and costs for the notice plan were allocated, with the Plaintiffs bearing a larger share.

The moving parties, including Chartwell Retirement Residences, Sienna Senior Living Inc., Extendicare Inc., and Schlegel Villages Inc., brought four motions for leave to appeal the decision of Morgan J. dated March 7, 2024.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motions for leave to appeal without costs.

Following the dismissal of the plaintiffs' motion for certification in a systemic negligence class action against a psychiatric hospital and the Province of Ontario, the successful defendants sought costs.

Waypoint claimed approximately $1.3 million and Ontario claimed approximately $815,000.

The court found the claimed amounts to be fair and reasonable given the complexity of the case and the resources expended by the plaintiffs.

Applying section 31 of the Class Proceedings Act, the court applied an approximate 10% discount due to the public interest nature of the litigation, awarding Waypoint $1,170,000 and Ontario $735,000 in partial indemnity costs.

The plaintiffs brought a motion to certify a class action against Ontario, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, and individual hospital administrators, alleging systemic negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and Charter violations related to the use of seclusion and restraints at a maximum-security psychiatric hospital.

The court dismissed the certification motion, finding that while some patients may have individual claims for culpable seclusion, there was no basis in fact for systemic wrongdoing.

The court concluded that the claims lacked commonality, as the use of restraints required highly individualized clinical assessments, and that a joinder action, rather than a class proceeding, was the preferable procedure.