COURT FILE NO.: CV-17-00569023-00CP
DATE: 2020/04/17
ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
Ashleka Persaud and Ten Eight Vacations Ltd.
Plaintiff
– and –
Talon International Inc.
Defendant
Sean A. Brown, Paul Mack, and Candace Mak for the Plaintiff
Nancy J. Tourgis and Symon Zucker for the Defendant
Pursuant to the Class Proceedings Act, 1992
HEARD: April 17, 2020
PERELL, J.
REASONS FOR DECISION
[1] In September 2018, this action under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992,[^1] was conditionally certified.[^2] The precondition for certification was that the Representative Plaintiffs, Ashleka Persaud and Ten Eight Vacations Ltd., replace their current Class Counsel, Levine, Sherkin, Boussidan P.C., with new Class Counsel. The Representative Plaintiffs choice of Class Counsel must be approved by the Court.
[2] Levine, Sherkin, Boussidan P.C., was disqualified from acting as Class Counsel because the law firm was also acting for a group of approximately twenty individuals who would opt out of the class action to pursue individual claims against the Defendant Talon International Inc.
[3] In April 2019, Talon brought a motion to have the action decertified because the November 2018 deadline for the satisfaction of the precondition for certification had passed.
[4] The Representative Plaintiffs were having difficulty finding replacement Class Counsel which they blamed on an inability to obtain information about the Class Members’ claims from the Defendant Talon.
[5] In April 2019, the Representative Plaintiffs, represented by what might be called interim Class Counsel or motion counsel, brought a motion for information. The main purpose of the motion was to obtain information so that new Class Counsel could evaluate whether they would assume the risks and the awards of becoming Class Counsel.
[6] The motion was successful,[^3] but it has taken some time for the information to be provided and evaluated.
[7] To move the action forward one way or the other, a case management conference was scheduled and heard on April 17, 2020.
[8] At the case conference, Talon withdrew its decertification motion, and it consented or did not oppose the appointment of Flaherty McCarthy LLP and Mack Lawyers as Class Counsel, whom I am satisfied are qualified to be class counsel.
[9] I, therefore, shall treat the decertification motion as withdrawn without costs and I shall appoint Flaherty McCarthy LLP and Mack Lawyers as Class Counsel. This action is now unconditionally certified as a class action.
[10] I schedule June 15, 2020 for a motion or case conference to resolve: (1) changes, if any, to the Certification Order; (2) the Notice of Certification to Class Members; and (3) a schedule for next steps in this action.
[11] In the circumstances of the Covid-19 emergency, these Reasons for Decision are deemed to be an Order of the court that is operative and enforceable without any need for a signed or entered, formal, typed order.
[12] The parties may and should submit formal orders for signing and entry once the court re-opens; however, these Reasons for Decision are an effective and binding Order from the time of release.
Perell, J.
Released: April 17, 2020
COURT FILE NO.: CV-17-00569023-00CP
DATE: 2012/04/17
ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
Ashleka Persaud and Ten Eight Vacations Ltd.
Plaintiff
– and –
Talon International Inc.
Defendant
REASONS FOR DECISION
PERELL J.
Released: April 17, 2020
[^1]: S.O. 1992, c. 6. [^2]: Persaud. v. Talon International Inc. 2019 ONSC 2488. [^3]: Persaud.v. Talon International Inc., 2019 ONSC 2488.