Two separate but related class actions were recently certified by Quebec Superior Court against tech behemoths Google and Meta for allegedly breaching Quebecers’ freedom of expression by censoring or making content directly or indirectly related to COVID-19 unaccessible.
A Montreal lawyer was disqualified as representative counsel in proposed cryptocurrency class action.
The Quebec Court of Appeal has overturned no less than eight lower court decisions over the past year that denied class action certification, signaling a possible discord that shows little sign of abating between motion judges more likely to cast a critical eye and the higher court intent on strictly adhering to case law and the teachings of the Supreme Court of Canada, according to class action experts.
A $28-million settlement reached with a Catholic religious order in a sexual abuse class action was rejected by Quebec Superior Court because of the high legal fees associated with the agreement, the second Quebec class action settlement in the past month whose legal fees have been the subject of a critical assessment.
A proposed climate change class action suit by a Montreal environment group against the federal government was denied certification, the latest in a series of climate change litigation cases that have been thwarted.
A man issued a ticket for accusing a police officer of being a racist was acquitted, the latest in a series of cases dealing with racial profiling that wound its way through Quebec courts.
A class action suit that sought compensatory and punitive damages against credit-reporting company Equifax Inc. following a massive global data breach that affected more than 143 million people worldwide, including 19,000 Canadians, was refused certification after Quebec Superior Court held that Quebec law does not recognize compensatory damages for data breaches.
Telus became the third Canadian telecommunication giant ordered to pay clients who paid excessive cancellation fees after the Quebec Court of Appeal partially overturned a lower court decision that dismissed the class action.
In a resounding victory for the pharmaceutical industry, the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the province’s consumer protection law does not apply to the sale of prescription drugs, jettisoning a legal avenue a growing number of class action plaintiffs were using to sue the industry.
A class action launched by 20 women who allege they were sexually assaulted or harassed by the founder of Just for Laughs was certified by Quebec Superior Court.
Why it matters: “If the plaintiff was not authorized to file the current class action, it is highly likely that many victims would be deprived of their ability to exercise their rights,” said Justice Bisson.
A Quebec telecommunications giant won a partial victory after the Quebec Court of Appeal reduced the amount of punitive damages it was ordered to pay in a class action suit from $1 million to $200,000.