Canada Case Law

Abbotsford (City) v. Mostertman

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The appeal is allowed in part: the chambers judge correctly found the plaintiffs provided a realistic, fact‑grounded methodology and adequately pleaded negligence and both private and public nuisance claims, and correctly rejected a fatal conflict between Inner and Outer Prairie class members on the common issues; however, certification of the subclass of property owners subject to registered indemnity covenants (the Indemnity Class) and the appointment of their representative plaintiffs are set aside because the judge failed to satisfy s.4(1)(e) by addressing the unresolved conflicts, notice…

Source excerpt

• Class certification
• Common issues
• Representative plaintiff conflicts
• Methodology and expert evidence
• Private nuisance
• Public nuisance

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G.G. v. Ontario

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal granted intervention motions in a class-action appeal about the Ragoonanan principle, imposing tight limits on factums, reply rights, and oral argument.

• Class certification
• Intervention
• Ragoonanan principle
• Access to justice
• Public interest standing
• Stare decisis

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Tietz v. BLOK Technologies Inc.

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The chambers judge erred in excluding early sellers and in dividing the class into Canadian and non-Canadian subclasses; s.140.3 of the Securities Act applies to issuers with a real and substantial connection to British Columbia regardless of the exchange through which shares were acquired, and the pleadings sufficiently allege an overarching conspiracy so certification was appropriate; appeal allowed to include early sellers and remove subclass division; cross-appeal dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Secondary market misrepresentation
• Civil conspiracy
• Class certification
• Preferable procedure
• Multiple conspiracies problem
• Early sellers exclusion

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G.G. v. Ontario

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Ontario Court of Appeal gave case management directions in grouped appeals about birth alerts, class certification, and whether to revisit the Ragoonanan principle.

• Class certification
• Birth alerts
• Representative plaintiff requirement
• Ragoonanan principle
• Class-actions
• Civil-procedure

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Shamattawa First Nation v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court granted summary judgment on a certified Stage I common issue about safe drinking water on reserve, finding Canada owed fiduciary, negligence and Charter-related duties.

• Fiduciary duty
• Ad hoc fiduciary duty
• Common law duty of care
• Charter ss.7,15,2(a)
• Section 32(1) charter application
• Long‑term drinking water advisories

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Weeks v. Abbotsford (City)

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held the dispute was fundamentally about working conditions and fell within the collective agreements, so claims against Surrey after the agreements took effect were outside court jurisdiction.

• Weber arbitration doctrine
• Abuse of process
• Collective agreements
• Labour arbitration jurisdiction
• Workplace harassment
• Systemic discrimination

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Canada (Attorney General) v. Ferris

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

The Crown established a serious issue on appeal, demonstrated irreparable harm from likely wasted or re-applied resources (made more acute by the probable unavailability of costs under r.334.39), and showed the balance of convenience favours a stay given the limited incremental delay and the Crown's compliance with appeal timelines; accordingly a stay of the Federal Court proceeding pending final disposition of the appeal was granted and costs were not awarded on the motion.

Source excerpt

• Class certification
• Stay pending appeal
• Rjr-macdonald test
• Costs in class proceedings

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Northwood Care Group Inc. v. Surette

Court

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

Leave to appeal was denied because the motions judge applied the correct legal principles (Pro-Sys, Hollick, Murray) in assessing commonality under s.7(1)(c), Northwood did not identify a reviewable legal error or demonstrate that application of the two-step test would have changed the result, and the motions judge permissibly certified the standard of care and breach as common issues while excluding causation as a common issue due to lack of evidentiary foundation for a statistical/epidemiological methodology.

Source excerpt

• Class certification
• Common issues
• Standard of care
• Causation
• Negligence
• Procedural leave to appeal

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Chad v. Canada (National Revenue)

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

The appeal is dismissed because the Notice of Application failed to establish a public legal duty obliging the Canada Revenue Agency to conduct broad searches of third-party records and notify potentially affected persons; Lavallee and Thornton are distinguishable and do not impose the asserted obligations; adequate alternative remedies (Access to Information Act requests and Tax Court processes where relevant) are available and the Notice failed to plead complete grounds under Rule 301(e), so striking the application without leave to amend was not an error.

Source excerpt

• Mandamus
• Judicial review
• Solicitor-client privilege
• Lavallee guidelines
• Alternative remedies
• Motion to strike

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North v. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The court set aside the partial certification order and replaced the prior costs disposition with an award of partial indemnity costs of $190,000, all inclusive, payable forthwith, because that amount was fair and reasonable in light of the certification motion's complexity, the amounts at stake, the importance and novelty of the issues, and comparable awards.

Source excerpt

• Certification
• Class certification
• Costs awards
• Partial indemnity costs
• Novelty and complexity
• Property damage

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