Canada Case Law

Ewert v. Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court approved the settlement with the Höegh defendants and dismissed the actions against them, finding the settlement fair and reasonable based on extensive investigation, adversarial negotiation, a substantial recovery relative to deemed loss, and adequate notice; the court also approved class counsel's fees, disbursements and interim payment as reasonable under the applicable fee factors.

Source excerpt

• Price‑fixing
• Settlement approval
• Counsel fees and contingency fees
• Notice to class
• Pass‑through damages
• Cooperation clause in settlements

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Bui v. Cargill, Incorporated

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court certified a proposed beef price-fixing class action, rejected a pure upstream s. 45 theory, and ordered production of US investigative materials before finishing certification.

• Certification under cpa s.4(1)
• Section 45 competition act (scope)
• Upstream vs downstream conspiracy
• Predominant purpose and unlawful means conspiracy
• Economic modelling of class-wide damages
• Production of foreign investigative materials (cids, subpoenas)

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Di Filippo v. Bank of Nova Scotia

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The motion judge erred in law by treating proposed non-conspiratorial spoofing claims and additions of certain banks as new claims time-barred; the original pleadings already alleged spoofing/painting the screen such that the amendments rely on facts already pleaded and therefore are not barred by the Limitations Act; allegations in foreign pleadings or press releases alone did not establish actual knowledge for limitation purposes; JP Morgan may be joined given regulator findings and pleaded factual overlap; defendants may still raise a constructive-knowledge (s.5(1)(b)) limitations defence…

Source excerpt

• Conspiracy
• Market manipulation
• Spoofing
• Limitations period
• Joinder
• Amendment of pleadings

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Spark Event Rentals Ltd. v. Google LLC

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court stayed Spark’s claims against Google in favor of arbitration, finding Spark had not shown a financial “brick wall” or that the dispute could not be resolved in arbitration.

• Stay of proceedings
• Arbitrability
• Competence‑competence
• Access to justice
• Class action
• Abuse of process

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Mohr v. National Hockey League

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court refused leave to amend and struck a proposed class action over hockey-player restraints, finding no reasonable cause of action and an abuse of process for overlapping wage and image claims.

• Section 45 competition act
• Section 48 competition act (professional sport)
• Motion to strike
• Motion to amend
• Abuse of process
• Damages under section 36

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Difederico v. Amazon.com, Inc.

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court approved a litigation funding agreement in this proposed class action and allowed most confidentiality redactions, but required disclosure of the fee caps.

• Litigation funding agreement approval
• Champerty
• Access to justice
• Confidentiality of commercial terms
• Most-favoured-nation clauses
• Fair pricing clauses

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Pantusa v. Parkland Fuel Corporation

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held that the defendants’ proposed summary judgment application should be heard concurrently with certification in this proposed class action about gasoline prices.

• Certification
• Summary judgment
• Sequencing of hearings
• Class certification test
• Conspiracy
• Unconscionability under bpcpa

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Godfrey v. Sony Corporation

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court approved three class-action settlements and granted interim approval of two-thirds of counsel fees, but refused disbursement payment pending further review.

• Settlement approval
• Counsel fees and disbursements
• Certification
• Class period expansion
• Class-action-settlement-approval
• Counsel-fees

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Coburn and Watson's Metropolitan Home v. Bank of Montreal

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Class action discovery ruling in a credit-card interchange case. The court allowed limited discovery of other class members and RCC, and ordered some production from the representative plaintiff.

• Discovery of class members
• Two-sided market analysis
• Interchange fees
• Civil conspiracy
• Unjust enrichment
• Solicitor's brief privilege

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Ewert v. Denso Corp.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court approved a $50,000 settlement with S-Y Systems in a British Columbia auto parts class action, finding it fair, reasonable, and in the class’s best interests.

• Price fixing/cartel
• Settlement approval
• Distribution protocol
• Certification and notice
• Damages recovery
• Class-action-settlement-approval

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