Case information

Civil procedure — Class action — Conditions for authorization — Whether respondent municipality fulfilled its fiduciary obligation to manage and administer its moneys in best interests of its residents — Whether applicant discharged burden of proof under art. 575 of Code of Civil Procedure as regards sufficiency of allegations of fact in application for authorization to institute class action — Whether facts alleged in applicant’s originating application for authorization to institute class action justify authorization to institute class action in question — Whether applicant has sufficient legal interest to represent class in class action — Code of Civil Procedure, CQLR, c. C 25.01, art. 575.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicant, André Lavallée, lives in the territory of the respondent municipality, Ville de Sainte Adèle, a legal person established in the public interest that is governed by the Cities and Towns Act, CQLR, c. C 19. In 2018, Mr. Lavallée filed an application for authorization to institute a class action for $3 million in damages on behalf of himself and, as representative plaintiff, a class consisting of any person who was a resident or ratepayer of the municipality at any time during the period between 2005 and 2018. He asserted that this amount represented moneys disbursed by the municipality in the pursuit of interests that were incompatible with its mission and with its residents’ interests. He submitted that these public funds had been used for multiple judicial proceedings against four residents of the municipality over a 13 year period. The Superior Court dismissed the application for authorization to institute a class action. The Court of Appeal granted a motion to dismiss the appeal and dismissed the appeal.