Joel Rochon

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 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 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.

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 in a proposed class action regarding allegedly deceptive advertising of tax software brought a motion to strike a paragraph in the statement of claim and portions of the certification record.

The impugned materials referenced regulatory and civil litigation settlements in the United States concerning similar advertising by the parent company.

The court granted the motion, finding that the U.S. settlement was not sufficiently relevant to the Canadian claims and that admitting the foreign litigation evidence would needlessly expand the certification inquiry.