Class actio. laws9/9/2023 So it’s usually set really high at the outset.” But at the early stages, they don’t have all the information needed to really come up with a solid number. “It must be larger than what the plaintiffs could reasonably get at trial, because procedurally, you can’t get more at trial than what you asked for. Lawyers often pick a compensation dollar figure the class is seeking out of the air, says Kalajdzic. Next was the $290 million awarded to Volkswagen owners over the emissions scandal. The largest class-action payout to date was the Indian residential school settlement of $1 billion. Without opting out, all those covered by a class action are bound by its result. But if they want to preserve their right to pursue an individual case, they must opt out of the class action by a prescribed date following certification. If a person is covered by the definition of a class and wants to take part in a class action, there is no action to take. “It’s a common misconception that you have to sign up or register to be part of a class, but Canada has an opt-out system,” said Kalajdzic. That could be the owner of a particular car made in defined production years, an employee of a company during a specified time, or the holder of a particular credit card, for instance. Compensation is being closely monitored by courts,” said Kalajdzic, who practised class-action law for 10 years before turning to academia.Ī court must certify a proceeding as a class action through a certification hearing, along with approving a representative litigant and the parameters of who is a member of a class. “Courts are reluctant to award more than one-third of the settlement to a law firm. The lawyer gets paid a percentage of what the class wins. Compensation for the lawyer primarily comes through a contingency fee, meaning they only get paid if the case settles or if it goes to trial and the plaintiffs win. The class must be represented by a lawyer. In some cases, an individual goes to lawyer with a complaint of harm caused by another, but in many cases, it’s law firms determining there is a problem and finding someone affected who is willing to be the public face and act as a representative litigant, says Kalajdzic.Ĭlass actions are expensive to litigate, so lawyers have to believe in the merits of a case, be confident it meets the requirements to be certified as a class action, and that its potential compensation is worth pursuing the lawsuit. “Legislators and jurists in Canada have had a clear vision of how class actions should work and have come up with a strong and beneficial mechanism to help those who have been injured or harmed,” says class action lawyer Evatt Merchant. The Law Commission of Ontario estimates there have been approximately 1,500 class-action lawsuits launched in Ontario in the last 20 years and that in recent years, about 100 are initiated annually. There is no database of Canada-wide cases. In Canada, class actions were first codified in Quebec in the 1970s, with Ontario following in 1993. It has been an effective tool for systemic change and is still used to assert minority rights, such as the protection of migrants and veterans, for instance. in the 1960s, largely to address civil rights, says Jasminka Kalajdzic, an associate professor of law and director of the Class Action Clinic at the University of Windsor. The concept of representative litigation dates back to medieval England but the modern class action took shape in the U.S. Class actions are often lengthy, complex and multinational cases. They are usually brought by one individual on behalf of many people, with one plaintiff acting as a representative for the class. Here’s how they work.Ĭlass-action lawsuits allow groups of people to seek justice against a defendant who is accused of causing loss or harm to others through product liability, privacy breaches, consumer protection issues, environmental accidents, mass personal injury, institutional abuse, and labour and employment issues. Class actions are an ever-more common means for groups of people to fight for compensation for damages and frequently made the news in 2019.
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