Canada Case Law

Carvery v. Halifax (City)

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

To be joined a potential plaintiff must demonstrate an interest in the issues by establishing they were an owner, occupier, or other person interested in the land as of the date of expropriation under the Halifax City Charter 1963; individuals who executed Indentures prior to the expropriation quitclaimed their interests and cannot be joined on that basis, their descendants likewise cannot be joined absent an independent proprietary interest at the expropriation date, minors cannot be joined on the basis of mere residence absent a guardian/trustee holding title or charge/control at the time,…

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• Joinder
• Standing
• Representative order
• Release
• Indentures/quitclaims
• Minors and capacity

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Gray v. 1534 Harwood Street (St. Pierre) Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed a landlord’s bid to stop a lease dispute from proceeding as a representative action, finding the leases identical and the core issues common to all leaseholders.

• Lease interpretation
• Operating expenses
• Representative proceedings rule 20-3
• Limitation act
• Res judicata
• Civil resolution tribunal procedure

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Araya v. Nevsun Resources Inc.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ bellwether-trial proposal with a stay and ordered the related actions tried together in a common trial.

• Forced labour
• Complicity/accomplice liability
• Parent company liability
• Bellwether/test case procedure
• Stay of proceedings
• Discovery

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United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, Region 6 v. Quality Meat Packers Holdings Limited

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The court held that (1) the Caetano proceeding was properly stayed because the unionized employees’ core complaints fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of the provincial labour regime under Weber; and (2) representative relief sought on behalf of non-union employees could not revive or extend individual claims already barred by the two-year limitations period—Rule 12.08 is not a tolling mechanism and Rule 10.01 cannot be used to avoid s.4 of the Limitations Act, so the representative aspects of the Abreu claim were plainly statute-barred.

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• Wrongful dismissal
• Severance pay
• Common employer liability
• Exclusive jurisdiction of labour board
• Representative proceedings (rules 10.01 and 12.08)
• Limitation periods

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White v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court allowed Victor White’s judicial review of a CRA fairness decision, set it aside, and remitted the matter because the decision was unreasonable.

• Taxpayer relief provisions
• Reassessment and statute-barred years
• Subsection 152(4.2) income tax act
• Legitimate expectations
• Fettering of discretion
• Adequacy of reasons

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Smith v. Michelin North America (Canada) Inc.

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

The court concluded Michelin did not discharge the onus to show it was unlikely that substantial disputed facts would arise if the applicant limited the relief to interpretation of the 1972 plan and abandoned reliance on extrinsic employee communications and the request for a separate accounting; accordingly Michelin's application to convert/continue the proceeding as an Originating Notice (Action) was denied and the matter may proceed as an Originating Notice (Application Inter-Partes) limited to interpretation of the 1972 plan and related calculation issues.

Source excerpt

• Contribution holidays
• Plan interpretation
• Conversion of application to action
• Representative appointment
• Separate accounting
• Extrinsic evidence and communications

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