We begin with developments of national significance. First, we discuss the amendments to the Competition Act which, effective June 2025, could open the door to a novel quasi-class action scheme entitling private plaintiffs to...more
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has endorsed the constitutionality of British Columbia (BC) legislation empowering the province to seek recovery of opioid epidemic healthcare costs in a proposed class action brought on...more
5/23/2025
/ Canada ,
Class Action ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare ,
New Legislation ,
Opioid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
State and Local Government ,
Supreme Court of Canada
In Ocean Pacific Hotels Ltd. v Lee, 2025 BCCA 57, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia confirmed that the duty of honest performance in contract does not extend to pre-contractual negotiations....more
A national class action on behalf of multiple Canadian governments to recover opioid epidemic healthcare costs simplifies the aggregation, prosecution, and determination of claims that span geographic boundaries. That is what...more
12/16/2024
/ Canada ,
Controlled Substances ,
Drug & Alcohol Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Health ,
Public Safety ,
Substance Abuse ,
Supreme Court of Canada
While applications for certification of class proceedings are commonplace, trials to decide certified common issues on their merits are comparatively rare. The decision in one such common issues trial was recently released in...more
In a pair of decisions released on July 5, 2024, the B.C. Court of Appeal found that an alleged reckless failure to safeguard personal information may be sufficient to make out Privacy Act claims of "wilful violation" of...more