Court File and Parties
COURT FILE NO.: CV-20-00643287-00CP DATE: 20220610
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO
RE: Gregory Stokker, Plaintiff
– AND –
Illumiti Inc., Defendant
BEFORE: E.M. Morgan J.
COUNSEL: Gregory Stokker, on his own behalf Maureen Quinlan, for the Defendant
HEARD: June 10, 2022
DISMISSAL OF ACTION
1The Defendant moves to dismiss the action for delay.
2This proposed class action alleging employee misclassification was commenced on June 30, 2020.
3The amendments to the Class Proceedings Act (“CPA”) took effect on October 1, 2020. Under section 39(2), actions commenced before that date are deemed to have been commenced on October 1, 2020 for the purposes of the one-year mandatory dismissal date set out in section 29.1 of the CPA. As a result, the one-year mandatory dismissal date for the within action was October 1, 2021.
4No substantive steps have been taken in the proposed class action since October 1, 2020.
5At their request, Plaintiff’s counsel were removed from the record on April 4, 2022. It was apparent at that motion, and Mr. Stokker has confirmed today, that the counsel and Mr. Stokker had a falling out.
6Following April 4, 2022, the Plaintiff has not appointed new counsel for this class action. He has advised the court today that he is not interested in continuing with the class action; in fact, he states that he was unaware that his former counsel had brought a proposed class action at all. He only intended to bring a personal action, and has now settled personally with the Defendant using different counsel to advise him.
7Since the commencement of the action, no other potential representative plaintiff has come forward.
8Given the situation of the Plaintiff, there is no reason for this action to continue. In fact, without a willing plaintiff it cannot continue. Given the passing of the deadline, the relief sought by the Defendant is appropriate.
9The action is dismissed. There will be no costs for or against either party.
10Counsel for the Defendant should send a draft Order to my assistant by email. There is no need to obtain the Plaintiff’s approval as to form and content of the Order.
Morgan J.
Date: June 10, 2022