Case information

Civil procedure — Class actions — Certification — Adjournments — Certification judge adjourning certification hearing to allow the plaintiff to file further affidavit from expert whose report was attached to the affidavit of another expert — What are the bounds of a certification judge’s discretion to adjourn a certification hearing to permit a plaintiff to obtain further and better evidence in support of the “some basis in fact” test? — Whether a certification judge can adjourn a certification hearing on his own motion to permit the plaintiff to obtain specific evidence necessary to establish that a common issue actually exists, where the certification record otherwise contained no such evidence — Class Proceedings Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 50, s. 5(6).

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The respondent, Ms. Krishnan, commenced an action on behalf of residents of Canada who purchased products manufactured by WN Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Natural Factors Nutritional Products Limited (“manufacturers”) or Jamieson Laboratories Ltd. (“Jamieson”) and labelled as containing glucosamine sulfate or other similar contents. Initially, the action was certified against the manufacturers but not against Jamieson. That aspect of the certification application was adjourned with leave given to the representative plaintiff to file a further affidavit and expert opinion from an expert whose report was attached to the affidavit of another expert. The representative plaintiff obtained an affidavit from the expert and renewed the application to certify the class action against Jamieson. The action was then certified against Jamieson. The Court of Appeal dismissed the manufacturers’ and Jamieson’s appeals.