Recommended Citation
Preston J. Lim & Justice William Hourigan,
The Case for a Canadian Panel on Multi-Jurisdictional Class Proceedings,
102(1)
Canadian Bar Review
240
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/facpubs/194
Abstract
In Hryniak v Mauldin, the Supreme Court called for a cultural shift to promote timely and affordable access to the civil justice system in Canada. The failings of the civil justice system with respect to class proceedings are particularly troubling. The authors focus on multi-jurisdictional proceedings, which are procedurally complex and notoriously slow-moving, and on past efforts by the bar and bench to render these proceedings more efficient. For the most part, existing reform measures are discretionary, ad hoc, and premised on the consent of all the parties. Whereas cooperation is currently an option under the various reform measures, cooperation should be the rule.
The authors recommend that legislatures simplify and expedite class proceedings across the country by creating a Panel based in part on the United States District Courts’ Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. The Panel would have representation from all provincial jurisdictions and its mandate would be restricted to three areas. First, it would determine the appropriate forum for a national class action to be heard and stay competing class proceedings. Second, it would determine which plaintiff law firms would have carriage of the selected proceeding. Third, where the parties obtain court approval of a settlement in the province having jurisdiction over the case, the Panel would be responsible for approving class action settlements for the other participating provinces. The authors canvas potential constitutional challenges to the proposed model, concluding that the model does not offend section 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867.
ISSN
0008-3003
Keywords
National class actions, Class actions reform, Hryniak v Mauldin, Multi-jurisdictional proceedings, Access to justice, Judicial economy, Duplicative proceedings, Civil justice reform, Cooperative federalism, Inter-provincial cooperation, Civil procedure
Disciplines
Civil Procedure | Law
