Class Actions

In Dufault v Toronto Dominion Bank, 2021 ONSC 6223, the Ontario Superior Court considered the sequencing of pre-certification motions under s. 4.1 of the amended Class Proceedings Act for the first time. The amendment provides as follows: Early resolution of issues 4.1 If, before the hearing…

A decision from the Divisional Court last month confirms that defendants cannot avoid litigating against the best-prepared plaintiff by strategically defending (or not defending) certification motions in different jurisdictions. The decision, Kirsh v Bristol-Myers Squibb, 2021 ONSC 6190, uph…

In Badesha v Cronos Group, Justice Morgan denied the plaintiff’s motions for leave to proceed with statutory misrepresentation claims under Part XXIII.1 of the Ontario Securities Act (“OSA”) and for certification pursuant to the Class Proceedings Act, 1992. The case raises interesting questi…

Gramoxone® is a non-selective herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds and grasses with an active ingredient called paraquat.  It is alleged that paraquat exposure is linked to Parkinson’s disease. Siskinds Desmeules, Siskinds LLP’s Quebec-based affiliate, has filed a class action law…

On March 25, 2021 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its decision References re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, 2021 SCC 11.1 While the question before the Court was the scope of the federal government’s jurisdiction, the practical effect of the decision was describing ho…

Ontario Court rejects notion that class members must be “clones.” Judges on a certification motion do understand that class members are not clones and even if they were clones, judges understand that individual clones may have had different experiences with the defendant. Commonality is not …

Canadian regulators have escalated their confrontation with unregistered Crypto-Platforms.1 On May 25, 2021, the OSC issued a Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations2 accusing Polo Digital Assets, Ltd., a Crypto-Platform operating under the name Poloniex, of registration and disclosur…

Data breaches are among the most common areas of subject matter for Canadian class actions in 2021. There are currently more than 80 class actions involving privacy breaches in progress across the country.1 Siskinds itself represents class members in several prominent ongoing privacy breach …

In Staff Notice 21-329 Guidance for Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms: Compliance with Regulatory Requirements (“SN 21-329”), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued an ultimatum to crypto asset platforms operating within Canada or with Canadian users: Register, or else. Published o…