Heather Rumble Peterson

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard unopposed applications by the Joint Committee in the national Hepatitis C class actions (Parsons and Kreppner) to allocate approximately $160 million in "Excess Capital" from the settlement fund.

The Joint Committee proposed four recommendations to increase various benefits for approved class members and family members, including lump sum payments, loss of guidance/care/companionship awards, lost pension benefits, and loss of services rates.

The court granted the application, finding the proposed allocations reasonable, non-discriminatory, and consistent with the settlement agreement's purpose of bridging compensatory gaps.

The Attorney General of Canada and the Joint Committee representing Class Members brought competing applications regarding the allocation of approximately $236 million in excess capital held in the trust fund established by the 1986-1990 Hepatitis C Settlement Agreement.

Canada argued the excess capital should be returned to it, while the Joint Committee sought to allocate the funds to increase benefits for Class Members.

The court dismissed Canada's application, finding that the excess capital allocation provision was intended to provide an opportunity to bridge compensatory gaps for Class Members.

The court approved seven of the Joint Committee's nine recommendations for allocating the funds, including increases to fixed payments and loss of services compensation, to be implemented by way of special distribution.

In a national class action alleging price fixing in the Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) market, the representative plaintiff sought approval of multiple settlement agreements with several defendant manufacturers under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The proposed settlements totalled $3,050,000 and followed earlier settlements with other defendants.

The court considered whether the agreements were fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, and reviewed the proposed distribution protocol, administration protocol, claims administrator appointment, class counsel fees, and representative plaintiff honorarium.

The court approved the settlements, associated distribution and administration plans, class counsel fees and disbursements, and dismissed the remaining claim against the final defendant.

The court accepted the settlements as falling within the zone of reasonableness and consistent with the interests of the class.

The representative plaintiff in a proposed national class action alleged that multiple manufacturers conspired to fix prices of polyurethane foam and carpet underlay products.

The plaintiff brought a motion seeking court approval of several negotiated settlement agreements with numerous defendants totaling approximately $29.28 million for the benefit of the class, along with cooperation provisions to assist claims against remaining defendants.

An objector argued that the settlements should not be approved until a distribution protocol and damages analysis were finalized.

The court held that settlement approval can properly occur before approval of a distribution protocol and that the negotiated settlements were fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class given the complexity, litigation risk, and absence of meaningful objections.

The settlements were therefore approved.

The plaintiff brought a motion to certify a class action for settlement purposes against the Toshiba and Etron defendants in a price-fixing case involving the SRAM industry.

The parties reached settlement agreements wherein Toshiba agreed to pay $475,000 and Etron agreed to pay $150,000.

The court found that the criteria for certification under section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 were met, noting that compliance is not as strictly required for settlement purposes.

The motion for certification was granted, and the proposed notices of hearings were approved.

In a competition class proceeding alleging price‑fixing in the static random access memory (SRAM) industry, the plaintiff sought court approval of a national settlement reached with certain defendants and approval of interim class counsel fees.

The settlement required the settling defendants to pay $1.5 million for the benefit of settlement class members across Ontario, British Columbia, and Québec, and to provide cooperation in the ongoing litigation against remaining defendants.

The court applied established class action settlement approval principles, assessing fairness, reasonableness, and the best interests of the class.

Finding the settlement well‑investigated, negotiated at arm’s length, and beneficial to class members given the risks of continued litigation, the court approved the settlement and the requested class counsel fees.