Fanshawe College Of Applied Arts And Technology v. Au Optronics Corporation: Consolidating Class Action Appeals While Refusing To Strike Portions Of A Factum

Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology v. Au Optronics Corporation, is a short endorsement of the Ontario Court of Appeal that addressed two aspects of appellate practice:

when portions of factums should be struck; and when a Divisional Court appeal should be consolidated with a Court of Appeal appeal. In an apparent attempt to allow the panel hearing the appeal to decide all relevant issues in the most efficient manner possible, Justice Huscroft refused to strike the portions of the factums, and ordered consolidation of the different appeals.

Background

The appellant brought a motion to add a second plaintiff in a class action. The motion judge concluded that the proposed amendment expanded the scope of the appellant's claim and that the proposed second plaintiff's claim was in any event statute-barred.

The respondents had also brought a summary motion to dismiss the appellants' claim for being statute-barred. The motion judge denied the respondents' motion. The respondents' appeal to the Court of Appeal was quashed on the basis that it...