Reidar M. Mogerman

The court approved a $500 million settlement in a national class action concerning a price-fixing conspiracy in the packaged bread market, resolving claims against Loblaw Companies Limited and related entities.

The settlement includes a substantial damages payment, a distribution protocol for class members, and a cooperation agreement by Loblaw to assist in ongoing litigation against non-settling defendants.

The court also approved class counsel fees and the payout to a third-party funder, finding the settlement fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class.

This costs endorsement from the Court of Appeal for Ontario addresses the allocation and quantum of costs following the respondents' success in opposing the appeal.

The court fixes costs at $20,000, apportioned 90% to the group represented by Manson and Fleury, and 10% to the group represented by Overwater, to be paid within 30 days.

The appellants, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of opioid products, challenged the constitutional validity of s. 11 of British Columbia's Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, which authorizes British Columbia to act as representative plaintiff in a class action on behalf of all federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada unless they opt out.

The majority held that s. 11 is intra vires, characterizing its pith and substance as a procedural mechanism under s. 92(14) of the Constitution Act, 1867 (Administration of Justice in the Province) that facilitates intergovernmental cooperation without creating or altering substantive rights.

The majority further found that s. 11 maintains a meaningful connection to British Columbia and respects the legislative sovereignty of other governments.

Côté J. dissented, finding that the pith and substance of s. 11 engages and derogates from property and civil rights of extra-provincial governments under s. 92(13), that no meaningful connection exists, and that ss. 11(1)(b) and (2) should be severed as ultra vires.

The Plaintiffs brought a motion to reconsider a previous certification ruling that dismissed the action against Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MLF) in a class action alleging price-fixing.

The Plaintiffs sought to certify the action against MLF, presenting new evidence including a Second Information to Obtain (ITO), MLF's annual reports, Canada Bread's Agreed Statement of Facts (ASF) from a criminal proceeding, and emails from Canada Bread's files.

MLF opposed the motion and brought cross-motions to exclude the new evidence and strike the Plaintiffs' amended claims.

The court dismissed the Plaintiffs' motion, finding that the 'new evidence' was either not new, inadmissible hearsay, or did not substantively alter the lack of a viable cause of action against MLF.

The court emphasized the principle of finality in litigation, stating that a certification dismissal for lack of cause of action is a final order and cannot be revisited without meeting a strict test for new evidence (Sagaz test), which was not met here.

The court also granted MLF's motion to exclude the evidence and strike the amended statements of claim against MLF.

The Moving Parties (First Nations and Municipalities) sought to stay the implementation of a $150 million settlement between Purdue Canada and Canadian Governments, arguing it might be unlawful, prejudicial, preferential, or an abuse of process, and sought financial disclosure from Purdue Canada.

The court dismissed the motion, finding it lacked a basis to compel disclosure or stay the settlement.

The court affirmed its jurisdiction over Purdue Canada was limited to the CCAA recognition proceedings, not general supervision, and found no evidence of bad faith or insolvency to warrant the requested orders.

This is an appeal from a motion judge's decision dismissing the plaintiffs' motion to amend their pleadings in a class action alleging a multi-bank conspiracy to fix gold and silver prices and engage in 'spoofing'.

The motion judge had found the proposed amendments time-barred or improper for joinder.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the motion judge erred in law by treating amendments as new causes of action when they were alternative theories based on existing facts, and by misapplying the 'actual knowledge' standard for limitation periods.

The Court also found a palpable and overriding error in the motion judge's assessment of JP Morgan's joinder, concluding that the CFTC order did not preclude conspiratorial spoofing allegations.

The amendments were allowed, with the possibility for some respondents to plead a limitations defence at trial.

This class action is in the settlement administration phase.

Class Counsel sought an order appointing Doug Mitchell as a bilingual arbitrator to assess appeals filed by class members regarding claims administrator decisions, as contemplated by the court-approved Administration Protocol.

The court granted the motion, finding Mr. Mitchell qualified and his appointment consistent with the fair and expeditious determination of class member appeals under section 12 of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

Paladin Labs Inc., as foreign representative for itself and Paladin Labs Canadian Holding Inc. (the Canadian Debtors), brought a motion under section 46 of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) for recognition and enforcement of two orders granted by the United States Bankruptcy Court in their Chapter 11 cases: a Bidding Procedures Order and a Bar Date Order.

The motion was unopposed.

The court granted the motion, finding that recognition was consistent with principles of comity and Canadian public policy, and would enable the Canadian Debtors to proceed with the sale process to maximize asset value and ascertain claims.

The Plaintiffs sought partial indemnity costs and disbursements totaling $1,391,715.45 following a successful, but partially limited, certification motion in a class action against several financial institutions.

The Defendants argued for a significant reduction, citing their substantial success in narrowing the class definition and potential double recovery from prior settlements.

The court awarded the Plaintiffs $700,000 in legal fees and HST, payable forthwith, and ordered disbursements of $468,705.06 payable in the cause.

The reduction in fees reflected the Defendants' success in streamlining the class action and reducing their potential liability, which the court deemed important for the integrity of the class actions regime and to discourage overambitious claims, without constituting a distributive costs award.

Three Eritrean workers alleged they were conscripted into forced labour at a mine in Eritrea owned by Canadian corporation Nevsun Resources Ltd. and subjected to violent, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The workers commenced proceedings in British Columbia seeking damages for breaches of customary international law prohibitions against forced labour, slavery, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and crimes against humanity, as well as domestic torts.

Nevsun brought a motion to strike the pleadings on the basis of the act of state doctrine and on the basis that the customary international law claims had no reasonable prospect of success.

The majority (Abella J., Wagner C.J., Karakatsanis, Gascon and Martin JJ.) dismissed the appeal, holding that the act of state doctrine does not form part of Canadian common law and that it was not plain and obvious that the customary international law claims were bound to fail.

Brown and Rowe JJ. dissented in part, agreeing on the act of state doctrine but concluding the customary international law claims were bound to fail.

Côté J. (Moldaver J. concurring) dissented in full, holding the claims were not justiciable because they required a determination that Eritrea had violated international law.

Class members who are not representative plaintiffs have no direct right of appeal from an order approving a settlement in a certified class action.

The Court of Appeal affirmed that the decision in Dabbs v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada remains good law and has not been superseded by subsequent decisions.

A settlement approval order is neither a judgment on common issues nor a determination of aggregate damages, and therefore class members cannot seek leave to appeal under section 30(5) of the Class Proceedings Act.

Permitting individual class members to appeal settlement approvals would introduce uncertainty into settlement negotiations, undermine the authority of representative plaintiffs and class counsel, and impede the resolution of class actions.

Two sets of appellants (manufacturers of optical disc drives) appealed the certification of a price-fixing class proceeding in British Columbia.

The majority held that the discoverability rule applies to extend the two-year limitation period in s. 36(4)(a)(i) of the Competition Act, that fraudulent concealment can toll a limitation period without requiring a special relationship between the parties, that umbrella purchasers (persons who bought from non-defendant manufacturers) have a cause of action under s. 36(1)(a), that s. 36(1) does not bar concurrent common law and equitable claims, and that a plaintiff's expert methodology need only establish that overcharges reached the indirect-purchaser level to certify loss as a common issue.

Côté J. dissented in part, finding that the discoverability rule does not apply to s. 36(4)(a)(i) and that umbrella purchasers have no cause of action under s. 36(1).

Both appeals were dismissed.

In a class action settlement regarding Volkswagen diesel vehicles, the plaintiffs brought a motion seeking production of data relating to VW's investigation of post-repair lag and surge issues, and an extension of the claims deadline.

The plaintiffs argued that the Settlement Agreement required disclosure of this data to allow class members to make informed decisions.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the lag/surge issue was a safety concern outside the ambit of the Settlement Agreement's provisions on reduced performance.

Consequently, the court held it had no jurisdiction under the settlement to order production of the data or to extend the claims deadline.

The appellants brought a class action against defendant manufacturers and suppliers alleging they conspired to fix the price of lithium-ion batteries sold in Canada between January 2000 and December 2011.

The conspiracy allegedly impacted all purchasers, including "umbrella purchasers" whose batteries originated from non-defendants, as the cartel's price increases caused non-conspirators to also raise prices.

The certification judge certified only a statutory claim under the Competition Act for non-umbrella purchasers.

The Divisional Court certified an unlawful means conspiracy claim but excluded umbrella purchasers, citing indeterminate liability concerns.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that the principle of indeterminate liability does not apply to either the statutory claim or the unlawful means conspiracy claim, and that umbrella purchasers should be included in the class with a subclass created for non-umbrella purchasers regarding aggregate damages quantification.

The court approved a $2.1 billion class action settlement for Canadian owners and lessees of VW 2.0-litre diesel vehicles affected by the "defeat device" fraud.

The settlement provides cash payments and options for vehicle buyback or emissions modification, with the buyback option generally offering a larger recovery.

The court found the settlement fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, exceeding what members would likely recover under provincial consumer protection legislation or tort law.