Case information

Civil procedure — Class actions — Similar class actions commenced in three provinces with class membership not overlapping — Defendants to class actions seeking a single common issue proceeding in one province only — Defendants applying to expand the class in that province and to stay the proceedings in the other two provinces — Application to stay proceeding dismissed — What are the principles to be applied when an application is brought to Canadian courts to consolidate overlapping class actions (as to claims, defences, parties and common issues) in multiple provinces into a single common issues proceeding, so as to achieve judicial economy, fairness and efficiency? — Civil Code of Québec, art. 3137.

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The applicants are defendants in class proceedings commenced in British Columbia (“BC”), Quebec and Ontario. They are carriers who transport vehicles across oceans to Canada using specialized cargo ships. The respondents are the representative plaintiffs in the Quebec action. The three actions each allege that class members were harmed by the same alleged international conspiracy regarding the supply of these vehicle shipping services. Class membership in the three actions does not overlap. In Quebec, the class proceeding was authorized as a class of Quebec residents only. The applicants applied to the Quebec Superior Court for a stay of the Quebec action until the BC Supreme Court had made a final determination of an application to amend the order certifying the class proceeding in BC to expand the class so that there would be a single common issue proceeding (“SCIP”). The Quebec Superior Court dismissed the application for a stay, having « constat[é] que les appelantes [the applicants] n’ont pas allégué le droit de la Colombie-Britannique à propos de la compétence des autorités de cette province et que, pour ce seul motif, leur demande de suspension doit échouer » (par. 5, 2023 QCCA 513). The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on the basis that the requirements for granting a stay in art. 3137 of the Civil Code of Québec, were not met: as the members of the Quebec class were not included in the certified class in BC, there was not another action between the same parties pending before a foreign authority.