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Class Actions

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A claim against one of the UK’s largest water companies for allegedly misleading regulators about the number of times it discharged sewage into waterways has been brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on behalf of the company’s eight million customers. It is the first time the “opt out” collective action regime established by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 has been used to bring an environmental claim and marks a significant development in the ESG…

In a class action spanning nearly 20 years, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has found two mutual fund managers liable for negligence related to “market timing”. Justice Koehnen held in Fisher v. IG Investment that the mutual fund managers failed to take reasonable steps to prevent frequent, short-term trading in their funds that harmed long-term investors. The mutual fund managers did not, however, breach their fiduciary duties. This decision offers important takeaways concerning class proceedings,…

The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) has refused to certify an opt out class application brought by Liza Gormsen in relation to the alleged abuse of a dominant position by a social networking platform. The application signified a trend in claims pursued in the UK, in which it is argued that certain activities of dominant companies that strictly appear to be consumer or data law issues in fact constitute “unfair trading conditions” and/ or “supplementary…

Introduction On November 25, 2022 the Ontario Court of Appeal released three decisions clarifying the scope of the common law tort for invasion of privacy called “intrusion upon seclusion”. These cases are Owsianik v Equifax Canada Co., Obodo v Trans Union of Canada, Inc. and Winder v Marriott International, Inc. The issue before the Court was “whether a claim for intrusion upon seclusion can succeed against the collectors and custodians of private information (“Database…

In Flesch v Apache Corporation, the Alberta Court of Appeal (“ABCA”) upheld the certification of an employee class action arising out of the cancellation of a long-term incentive compensation plan. This case is significant because the court discussed increasing its gatekeeping function in the certification of class actions, and it serves as a warning to employers who seek to amend or cancel incentive plans. Background In July 2017, the Apache Corporation (“Apache”), an American oil…

Introduction In Mohr v National Hockey League, 2022 FCA 145, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) dismissed an appeal from a motion to strike a proposed class action claim. The proposed representative plaintiff alleged an anti-competitive conspiracy among professional and major junior hockey leagues. This decision is significant because the FCA confirmed that prohibitions under section 45 of the Canadian Competition Act apply to “supply side” agreements only. They do not apply to “buy…

In brief The Federal Court of Australia has awarded aggregate damages in an Australian consumer class action proceeding commenced by a private applicant. The last time an order of this kind was made was in 1998, in representative proceedings commenced by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).[1] In Williams v Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Limited (Initial Trial) [2022] FCA 344 (“Williams”), a class action concerning defective diesel particulate filter systems, Justice Lee awarded damages on an…

Bucking the trend of recent certification decisions, the Competition Appeal Tribunal refused to grant an opt-out collective proceedings order in favour of either of the two competing proposed class representatives in the foreign exchange follow-on claims.[1] In a significant victory, the respondent banks succeeded in their argument that the claims brought by O’Higgins and Mr Evans should not proceed on an opt-out basis. The Tribunal has given O’Higgins and Evans three months to decide whether…

On 8 March 2022, the Competition Appeal Tribunal published its summary of the opt-out collective claim filed by Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen against Meta, in relation to alleged abuses of dominance imposed through Facebook’s terms and conditions.[1] As the 17th application for a collective proceedings order made since the class actions regime changed in 2015, it seemed an opportune time to reflect on a few trends in collective claims. More often than not, those claims…

1. Introduction Swiss civil procedural law today only provides for very limited possibilities of collective redress, which the Swiss Federal Council has recognized in a report back in 2013 as insufficient. However, the issue of how exactly collective redress shall be strengthened is highly controversial. A first proposal by the Federal Council was rejected by Parliament in 2014. Relevant amendments were also initially included in the draft of the revised Civil Procedure Code (CPC) in…