Jonathan Ptak

The plaintiff brought motions to approve a $60 million settlement in a class action concerning historical institutional abuse at Ontario Training Schools between 1953 and 1984.

The court approved the settlement, finding it fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, noting the significant litigation risks and the benefits of a trauma-informed claims process.

The court also approved Class Counsel's contingency fee of 28.5%, a $15,000 honorarium for the representative plaintiff, the disclosure of class member contact information to the Public Guardian and Trustee, and a motion by a class member to rescind his prior opt-out due to medical difficulties.

The plaintiff brought motions for approval of a settlement agreement, a discretionary fund, class counsel fees, and a notice program in a class action concerning allegedly defective metal-on-metal hip implants.

The court approved the claims-made settlement and the $750,000 discretionary fund, finding them fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class given the significant litigation risks.

The court also approved a 25% contingency fee for class counsel and a $1.25 million contribution from the defendants towards fees and disbursements.

However, the court dismissed the representative plaintiff's request for a $7,500 honorarium, finding no exceptional circumstances of personal hardship.

This class action concerned historical sexual abuse perpetrated by Ralph Rowe, an Anglican priest and Scout leader, against Indigenous boys in remote communities.

The court approved a $13.25 million settlement, which included a unique trauma-informed claims process with two tracks (simplified Schedule A up to $140,000, and more rigorous Schedule B up to $350,000).

The settlement also provided for apologies from the Anglican Church of Canada and Scouts Canada, and funding for counselling.

The court found the settlement fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class members, emphasizing the benefits of timely resolution and the innovative, claimant-centric claims protocol.

The plaintiff brought a motion to certify a class action against the defendants, alleging that their glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The court analyzed the five certification criteria under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

While the court struck the proposed causes of action for battery and unjust enrichment, it found that the pleadings disclosed a valid cause of action in negligence and failure to warn.

The court approved the proposed class definition, certified several common issues including general causation and punitive damages, and concluded that a class proceeding was the preferable procedure.

The action was certified as a class proceeding.

The appellant appealed the dismissal of a certification motion for a proposed class action against a car rental company.

The proposed class consisted of branch managers who alleged they were misclassified as managers and improperly denied overtime pay.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the motion judge's findings that the claims lacked sufficient commonality due to the substantial variability in the job functions and duties actually performed by the proposed class members across different branch locations.

The court also upheld the motion judge's refusal to certify aggregate damages and the finding that British Columbia class members had no cause of action.

The parties in a settled class action regarding sexual misconduct in the military brought a motion for directions on implementing a provision for late claims.

Over 640 late claims were received after the extension period expired.

The Federal Court directed that the 'interests of justice' test applies to granting leave for late claims.

Rather than deciding hundreds of individual leave applications, the Court delegated this duty to the settlement Administrator to assess the claims according to specific criteria, subject to a final cut-off date of 30 days from the order.

The plaintiff brought a motion to certify a class action against a car rental company, alleging systemic misclassification of branch managers and seeking unpaid overtime.

The court dismissed the certification motion, finding that the proposed common issues regarding misclassification could not be resolved on a class-wide basis due to significant variability in the actual job functions performed by managers across different branch locations.

The court also rejected the plaintiff's proposed methodologies for calculating aggregate damages, which relied on computer log-in data and anonymous crowdsourced internet reviews.

The moving parties brought a motion for leave to appeal the order of Pierce J. dated May 26, 2021.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal and ordered that there be no order as to costs.

The plaintiff brought an omnibus motion to implement a Court of Appeal judgment in favour of a class of over 35,000 retirees regarding pension indexation.

The court approved the implementation methodology, which provides an estimated $103 million present value recovery to the class.

The court also approved class counsel fees of $10 million, a $15,000 honorarium for the representative plaintiff, and the Class Proceedings Fund levy.

Finally, relying on section 12 of the Class Proceedings Act, the court eliminated the right of class members to opt out, finding that the declaratory nature of the judgment and the 100% recovery made an opt-out right unnecessary and potentially unjust.

The representative plaintiffs moved for approval of a $10 million settlement in a class proceeding against the Crown regarding its alleged systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duty toward former Crown wards.

The class alleged the Crown failed to pursue compensation for abuse they suffered.

Sixty former Crown wards objected to the settlement, arguing the compensation was inadequate and failed to address the actual harms suffered.

The court dismissed the motion, finding the settlement was not fair, reasonable, or in the best interests of the class, as it effectively abandoned the major claims for compensation and provided only minimal recovery after legal fees and administration costs.

The parties agreed upon a timetable leading up to a certification motion in a class proceeding.

The court endorsed the agreed-upon schedule, setting dates for the exchange of motion records, cross-examinations, and factums, with the motion returnable for three days in May and June 2022.

This appeal concerned the proper calculation of cost-of-living adjustments under a pension plan, specifically the rounding policy for the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The motion judge had found the respondents were entitled to round the CPI increase to two decimal points (1.49%), resulting in a 1% pension increase.

The appellant argued the plan required adherence to Statistics Canada's one-decimal policy (1.5%), which would result in a 2% pension increase.

The Court of Appeal found the motion judge made a palpable and overriding error of fact by ignoring uncontradicted evidence that the two-decimal rounding provision in the plan would still have meaning even with the Statistics Canada one-decimal policy for the Pension Index, particularly for recently retired pensioners.

The court held that the plan's language required adopting Statistics Canada's one-decimal policy for both the annual percentage increase and the CPI.

The appeal was allowed, and summary judgment was granted in favour of the appellant, leading to a 2% pension increase for 2017.

The appellants appealed the dismissal of their motion to certify a class proceeding involving product liability claims against the manufacturers of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter.

The Divisional Court upheld the motion judge's finding that the pleadings failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action for defective design because they did not identify a specific alternative design.

However, the court allowed the appeal in part, finding that regulatory advisories provided 'some basis in fact' to certify the common issue of whether the defendants breached their duty to warn learned intermediaries of the risks associated with the filters.

The plaintiffs in two proposed class actions sought court approval under s. 29 of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, to dismiss their actions against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) with prejudice and without costs, and to discontinue the actions against the non-settling defendants without prejudice and without costs.

This motion was brought to implement a $30 million settlement reached with PwC in a parallel, national class action proceeding in Québec, which had already been approved by the Québec Superior Court.

The court granted the requested orders, finding that the interests of the putative class members in Ontario would not be prejudiced, as they could participate in the Québec settlement and broad notice had been provided regarding the impact on their rights.

Following the dismissal of the plaintiff's class action on summary judgment, the parties made written submissions on costs.

The defendants sought full or substantial indemnity costs, while the Class Proceedings Fund argued for a 30% reduction on the basis that the litigation was brought in the public interest.

The court rejected both arguments, finding that the defendants' discounted fee arrangement and the breach of trust pleading did not justify an elevated costs scale, and that the pension calculation dispute was a private financial matter rather than public interest litigation.

The court exercised its discretion to award the defendants partial indemnity costs fixed at $200,000 for fees plus disbursements.

The court issued a supplementary endorsement to correct two points from its previous reasons for judgment granting certification and summary judgment dismissing the action.

On consent of the parties, the court revised the class definition regarding the defined benefit indexation payment increase from the pension plan.

The court also clarified that only the employer, and not the other defendants, owed a fiduciary duty to the plaintiff in the administration of the plan.

The plaintiff, a pensioner, brought a proposed class action alleging that the employer miscalculated the 2017 cost of living increase for pension payments, negatively affecting all subsequent years.

The plaintiff sought certification of the class proceeding and summary judgment for breach of contract, breach of trust, and breach of fiduciary duty.

The court certified the action as a class proceeding, finding it met all criteria under the Class Proceedings Act.

However, on the merits, the court granted summary judgment in favour of the defendants, concluding that the employer's interpretation of the pension plan's rounding provisions was correct and no breach of duty occurred.

The plaintiff in a proposed class action moved to introduce Pension Information Committee Reports from 1998 to the present as late-filed evidence, after cross-examinations had been completed.

The defendants objected but suggested that if the reports were admitted, the annual pension statements for the same years should also be admitted.

The court applied the test for late-filed evidence, finding the documents relevant, non-prejudicial as they were the defendants' own records, and reasonably omitted initially.

The court granted the motion, admitting both the reports and the annual statements in the interests of justice.

Class counsel moved for an order approving the form and content of the notice of certification and a litigation timetable in a class proceeding concerning former residents of Ontario Training Schools.

The defendant consented to both orders.

The court approved the litigation timetable and the notice of certification, subject to specific modifications regarding the publication list and the development of balanced training materials for independent legal advice providers.

The court emphasized the need for clear, balanced advice on opting out.

Two organizations sought leave to intervene in a certification motion for a class proceeding brought on behalf of former residents of provincial training schools.

The plaintiff opposed the intervention.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that neither organization would provide assistance to the court at the certification stage beyond what the parties and past jurisprudence would bring.

The court noted that concerns regarding notice, participation, and compensation could be addressed by crafting an appropriate notice if the action is certified.