Canada Case Law

Bonn v Nova Scotia (Attorney General)

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

The Court certified the proposed class action: the pleadings disclose viable causes of action for Charter breaches (ss.7,8,12) and trespass to the person and the s.15 claim need not plead a comparator group at certification; there is some basis in fact to define the class temporally from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2021 across Central Nova, Northeast Nova Scotia and Cape Breton facilities; common issues including amended Common Issue #11 (framed to ask whether the common elements of post-OAT strip searches constitute trespass to the person), aggregate damages (Common Issue #17) and non-mo…

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• Charter s.8 search and seizure
• Charter s.7 liberty and security
• Charter s.12 cruel and unusual treatment
• Charter s.15 discrimination
• S.24(1) remedies
• Trespass to the person (false imprisonment, assault, battery)

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Barnard v. The Portage Mutual Insurance Company

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

Certification granted in part: the court certified a narrowed class limited to insureds whose weekly indemnity payments fell below $250/week due to deduction of Employment Insurance (EI) Disability Benefits, and certified five common issues concerning whether EI benefits qualify as wage continuation, whether they are payments under the laws of a jurisdiction, breach of the Section B contract, whether defendants had a uniform deduction practice, and whether such practice breached the duty of good faith; claims regarding CPP deductibility, unjust enrichment, bad faith/fraudulent misrepresentati…

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• Deductibility of collateral benefits from weekly indemnity
• Section b mandatory accident benefits (spf no.1)
• Employment insurance disability (ei)
• Canada pension plan disability (cpp)
• Long term disability (ltd)
• Breach of contract

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Hvitved v. Home Depot of Canada Inc.

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The appeal and cross-appeal are dismissed: the chambers judge correctly struck the breach of contract claim for failure to plead material facts necessary to establish express or implied contractual terms; the judge did not err in certifying the statutory breach of privacy claim because there was a sufficient basis in fact for commonality and for including non-Facebook users and corporate claimants at certification, and no reversible error was shown in the exercise of discretion.

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• Breach of privacy
• Certification/commonality
• Breach of contract pleadings
• Consent to data sharing
• Aggregate damages
• Striking pleadings

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Moiseiwitsch v. Canadian National Railway Company

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Class action certification arising from the Lytton Fire was granted in part, with negligence, private nuisance and Rylands v. Fletcher certified and several claims struck.

• Some basis in fact test for certification
• Causation
• Duty of care
• Admissibility of expert evidence
• Class definition and common issues
• Aggregate damages

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Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy v. British Columbia

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court struck this proposed COVID-19 class action as an abuse of process, denied certification and amendment, and addressed misnaming and substitution of defendants.

• Charter damages
• Certification under class proceedings act
• Abuse of process
• Judicial review vs civil action (collateral attack)
• Statutory immunity (pha s.92)
• Emergency powers (epa and pha)

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Mayer v. Merchant Law Group LLP

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Class certification granted, subject to amendments, in a proposed class action alleging Merchant Law Group misused $500 retainers and made pay-to-play misrepresentations.

• Breach of trust
• Fiduciary duty of lawyers
• Negligent misrepresentation
• Fraudulent misrepresentation (deceit)
• Equitable fraud
• Contingent fee agreements

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Ferris v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court conditionally certified a class action alleging the Canada Student Loans Program discriminates against students with permanent disabilities by causing Excess Debt.

• Charter s.15 equality
• Disability discrimination
• Student loans
• Certification
• Aggregate damages
• Charter-s15-equality

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Mann-Campbell v. JUUL Labs Canada, Ltd.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Certification hearing in a JUUL class action was adjourned so the plaintiffs could amend pleadings, the class definition, and several proposed common issues.

• Certification
• Negligence
• Failure to warn
• Breach of consumer protection statutes
• Sale of goods act claims
• Unjust enrichment

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Insurance Corporation of British Columbia v. Ari

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal upheld a $15,000 per class member aggregate damages award for a serious privacy breach, holding the Privacy Act is not limited to nominal damages absent consequential harm.

• Statutory privacy tort
• Aggregate damages
• Nominal damages
• Vindicatory and deterrence functions of damages
• Vicarious liability
• Privacy-law

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Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver v. British Columbia (Public Guardian and Trustee)

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court certified a class proceeding over alleged failure by the Public Guardian and Trustee to open RESPs and obtain CLB and BCTESG benefits for children in care.

• Resp and government grants (clb, bctesg)
• Aggregate damages
• Representative plaintiff under s.2(4) cpa
• Preferable procedure
• Injunctive and declaratory relief
• Punitive damages

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