Russell M. Raikes

The appellants, former students of Grenville Christian College, appealed a decision refusing to certify their class action for institutional abuse.

The motions judge had found that all certification criteria were met except for the preferable procedure, concluding that individual issues would overwhelm common ones.

The Divisional Court allowed the appeal, finding the motions judge made a palpable and overriding error by failing to properly analyze the access to justice barrier and by incorrectly assuming common issues would need to be relitigated.

The Court certified the class action and awarded costs to the appellants.

The plaintiff sought leave to file a statement of claim after failing to do so within the 30‑day period following issuance of a notice of action.

The underlying action alleged damages for wrongful arrest, prosecution, and incarceration arising from charges that resulted in an acquittal.

The court held that issuing the notice of action within the limitation period tolled the limitation period and that the failure to file the statement of claim in time was an irregularity caused by solicitor inadvertence.

Applying the test from Nugent v. Cook, the court found the delay resulted from inadvertence and caused no prejudice to the defendant.

Leave was granted to issue the statement of claim and extend time for service.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a costs endorsement following an appeal.

The appellants were ordered to pay costs to the respondent Diocese in the amount of $20,000, inclusive of disbursements and taxes.

The appellants sought to certify a class action against a private religious school, its former headmasters, and the local Anglican Diocese for historical abuse.

The motion judge refused certification against all respondents, but specifically dismissed the action against the Diocese for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action.

The appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The Court held it had jurisdiction under s. 6(1)(b) of the Courts of Justice Act to hear the appeal regarding the Diocese, as it was a final order dismissing the action, not merely a refusal to certify.

On the merits, the Court upheld the dismissal, finding the pleadings failed to establish sufficient proximity to ground a duty of care or a fiduciary relationship between the Diocese and the students.

The Court declined to join the appeal regarding the other respondents, transferring it to the Divisional Court.

The appellants appealed the motion judge's refusal to certify a class action against the respondents.

The Court of Appeal declined to exercise its discretion under s. 6(2) of the Courts of Justice Act to hear the appeal regarding the refusal to certify the action against the College, Farnsworth, and the Estate of Haig.

The court directed that the appeal involving those parties be transferred to the Divisional Court.

Following the dismissal of a proposed class action certification motion and the dismissal of claims against one defendant for failure to disclose a reasonable cause of action, the court determined the appropriate costs awards.

The defendants sought substantial partial indemnity costs for successfully resisting certification and for obtaining dismissal of the claim against the diocesan defendant.

The plaintiffs and the Class Proceedings Fund argued for reductions based on public interest, access to justice concerns, and alleged unnecessary litigation steps.

The court rejected arguments for a public interest or access-to-justice discount and confirmed that the ordinary rule that costs follow the event applies in class proceedings.

The Grenville defendants were awarded their full claimed costs, while the diocesan defendant’s claim was reduced as excessive.

The Plaintiffs, representing Air Ontario pilots, brought a class action against the Defendants, representing Air Canada pilots, alleging unlawful act conspiracy, intentional interference with economic interests, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation.

The dispute arose from the failure to implement a merged pilot seniority list following an arbitration award by Michel Picher.

The court dismissed all claims, finding that the Defendants' conduct was not unlawful, there was no intention to injure, no fiduciary duty was owed to the Plaintiffs, and the representations made were not actionable.

Furthermore, the court found that the Plaintiffs suffered no damages as Air Canada would never have agreed to the merged seniority list.

A certified class proceeding alleged that a manufacturer negligently designed, tested, marketed, and monitored mechanical heart valves coated with a silver-based antimicrobial surface.

The plaintiffs argued that the coating impaired tissue healing and increased the risk of complications including paravalvular leak, thromboembolism, and death.

After an extensive common‑issues trial involving scientific, epidemiological, and regulatory evidence, the court found the manufacturer exercised reasonable care in product design, testing, and post‑market surveillance.

The court concluded that the coating did not adversely affect tissue healing and did not materially increase the risk of most alleged complications, except for a temporary increase in paravalvular leak risk in the early post‑implant period.

Because negligence and causation were not established, the class action was dismissed.

The plaintiffs, former residential students at Grenville Christian College, moved to certify a class action against the school, its former headmasters, and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario, alleging systemic physical and psychological abuse and religious indoctrination.

The court dismissed the action against the Diocese, finding it plain and obvious that the Diocese owed no duty of care, was not vicariously liable, and had no fiduciary relationship with the students.

The court also dismissed the certification motion against the remaining defendants, concluding that a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure because the common issues of systemic negligence would not significantly advance the individual claims.

Instead, the court suspended the dismissal for six months to allow the plaintiffs to propose a new litigation plan to continue the action as a group of case-managed individual actions.

The appellants appealed the dismissal of their solicitor's negligence action.

The appellants alleged that the respondent solicitor, who acted for multiple parties in a corporate restructuring prior to the individual appellant's bankruptcy, failed to recommend independent legal advice and failed to discuss alternative transactions.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the solicitor did not breach his fiduciary duty or act negligently, as he took instructions from the appellant's designate, the transactions were straightforward, and the appellant was a sophisticated businessman who understood the documents.

Furthermore, the appellants failed to establish any damages, as the shares and debt involved had no value.

The appellants appealed an order striking portions of their statement of claim against the respondents, which included claims related to religious indoctrination at a private school.

The Court of Appeal upheld the motion judge's finding that there is no tort of religious indoctrination and that certain claims were non-justiciable.

However, the Court granted the appellants leave to amend their pleadings to clarify a theory of breach of fiduciary duty based on the respondents' alleged failure to educate the students in accordance with Anglican faith and values.

The Court also restored several paragraphs that had been struck for being redundant, irrelevant, or argumentative.

The appeal was allowed in part.

The appellants and the Law Foundation of Ontario sought leave to appeal costs orders made by the case management judge following the dismissal of several proposed class actions against automobile insurers.

The motion judge had awarded costs to the successful insurers, including substantial indemnity costs where the plaintiffs persisted with unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and deceit to overcome limitation periods.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the application for leave to appeal, finding no error in principle in the motion judge's exercise of discretion regarding entitlement or scale of costs.

Following a successful appeal that certified the action as a class proceeding, the Court of Appeal issued a costs endorsement.

The appellants were awarded costs throughout on a partial indemnity scale.

The Court fixed the costs for the Divisional Court at $60,000 and for the Court of Appeal at $42,500, payable forthwith by the respondents jointly and severally.

The costs of the initial certification motion were referred back to the motion judge.

The appellants were charged with illegal hunting practices on an Indian reserve under the Migratory Birds Convention Act.

They argued that a 1955 band council by-law passed under the Indian Act constituted a comprehensive code that ousted the application of the federal Act.

The Court of Appeal held that the two regulatory regimes did not conflict, as compliance with one did not require breach of the other.

The appeal was dismissed, affirming that the appellants could be charged under either the Act or the by-law.

The defendants sought leave to appeal a decision certifying a class action regarding allegedly defective Silzone-coated mechanical heart valves.

The defendants also sought leave to appeal an evidentiary ruling regarding expert affidavits filed in support of certification.

The Divisional Court dismissed the applications for leave to appeal, finding no conflicting decisions and no good reason to doubt the correctness of the certification order.

The court held that the common issues, including the defendants' standard of care and the risks associated with the product, were appropriate for a class proceeding.

The appellants, members of various First Nations, sought to bring a class proceeding against the federal government and church entities for harms suffered at the Mohawk Institute Residential School between 1922 and 1969.

The motion judge and Divisional Court denied certification.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the criteria for certification under s. 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 were met, including identifiable classes, common issues such as systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, and the preferability of a class action.

The appellants sought to certify a class action against the federal government and others for alleged systemic physical, emotional, spiritual, and cultural abuse at a residential school operated between 1922 and 1969.

The motion judge dismissed the certification application, finding that a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure due to the highly individualized nature of the claims and the necessity of separate inquiries for each student.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the motion judge's conclusion that the resolution of common issues would not significantly advance the litigation and that individual actions were the preferable alternative.

The appellant First Nation appealed a decision upholding the validity of a land surrender.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal in a brief oral judgment, stating that the sole question was the validity of the surrender and expressing agreement with the reasons of the Court of Appeal.

The applicant union alleged that the respondent car dealership's contracting out of its rustproofing and washing work to a sub-contractor constituted a sale of a business under section 63 of the Labour Relations Act, or alternatively, that the dealership and the sub-contractor were related employers under section 1(4).

The Ontario Labour Relations Board dismissed both applications.

The Board found that the transfer of work alone did not constitute a sale of a business, as the sub-contractor merely continued a pre-existing business from a new location leased from the dealership.

Furthermore, the Board held that the two firms were not under common control or direction, as the sub-contractor independently managed its employees and performed work for other clients.