Management Of Multijurisdictional Class Actions And Of Class Actions In Montréal

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) adopted the new Canadian Judicial Protocol for the Management of MultiJurisdictional Class Actions and the Provision of Class Action Notice (2018 Judicial Protocol) as best practices at its annual meeting on February 15 and the Class action division, Montréal division, is in the process of restructuring itself.

What You Need To Know

Although the 2018 Judicial Protocol is not mandatory, the coordinating judge of the Class Action Division, Montréal Division, spoke in favor of its adoption. In addition, the parties may make a request for its application. Finally, it could eventually be incorporated into the rules of practice. The 2018 Judicial Protocol aims to minimize confusion and maximize communication between judges and lawyers involved in similar class actions in different jurisdictions. If you have a class action case at the pre-authorization stage in the Montréal Division, a new judge may be assigned to your case if your judge is not part of the Group of 10. If you have a class action case at the post-authorization stage in the Montréal Division, a new judge may be assigned to your case if your judge is part of the Group of 10. The Details

The 2018 Judicial Protocol was developed by the CBA National Task Force on Class Actions under the chairmanship of Torys partner Sylvie Rodrigue. The CBA Task Force also developed the 2011 Judicial Protocol, which dealt with the procedure for approving multjurisdictional class action settlements and the issuance of notices. The Task Force began meeting again in 2016 to add best practices for the management of multijurisdictional class actions in cases where there is no settlement.

The 2018 Judicial Protocol, developed after consultation with the Bar and members of the judiciary, and taking into account applicable class action legislation across Canada, completes the 2011 protocol. However, it is up to each court to adopt it or not.

The new best practices set forth in the 2018 Judicial Protocol include:

Disclosure requirements for plaintiff's counsel: Prior to the first case management conference in an action, plaintiff's counsel shall post the pleadings of their action on the CBA Class Action Database, advise the Court of any other parallel action of which they are aware and of the status of such action, and provide this list to the Court and the other counsel. Plaintiff's counsel must keep this information up to date and keep the Court and other counsel informed of...