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CCCA_V7No4_ClassAction-FIN_CCCA 13-11-25 1:39 PM Page 24 Feature and class action practice. He represents Mastercard in the current Ontario and co-ordinating counsel for the recall-related cases Canadian credit card case. filed in other provinces. “Once a judge gets assigned with a class “Just as the North American economy has fewer borders, so action, generally they push them forward,” says Pinos, noting too does litigation and there are entrepreneurial lawyers in the the potential for “a substantial amount of heartburn” for plaintiff U.S. who are actively shipping their litigation abroad just as there and defendant. are eager Canadian lawyers who are happy to be the franchisee,” From a plaintiff perspective, a case that begins in Canada will he says. require an investment of time and money to produce evidence Since class actions often begin in the U.S., Canadian plaintiff that could otherwise be generated in the U.S. For defendants, a firms have access to publicly available court information that lower bar for class action authorization in Quebec and other could prove valuable for their subsequent case. Kent says provinces compared to the U.S. raises the possibility that a case Canadian lawyers have had “mixed success” in efforts to drill proceeds here first but not in the U.S. deeper for U.S. documents, such as requests for intervenor status “You have to be very cognizant about co-ordinating your to gain access to otherwise-redacted testimony. outside counsel in the various jurisdictions and having a very real Sometimes a proposed settlement in the U.S. reshapes an sense of where you want cases to proceed first from a preceden- ongoing case in Canada. tial standpoint,” says Pinos. In 2009, in Silver v. Imax Corp., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified an international class that included Canadian and U.S. pulls back U.S. shareholders of the Mississauga, Ont., movie theatre compa- The recent divergence between Canada and U.S. on treatment ny that traded on the TSX and NASDAQ and whose stock suf- of proposed class actions further complicates the picture for in- fered a steep price drop after news of an informal Securities and house counsel. Exchange Commission inquiry. Class certification was granted “The U.S. is getting more restrictive on class action at every first in Ontario and then in the U.S., leading to parallel cases. level,” observes Rodrigue, who also chairs the Canadian Bar Earlier this year, the Ontario court agreed to remove the Association National Task Force on Class Actions. “The Supreme American plaintiffs from the proceedings as they had reached a Court of the United States is really trying to pull back on class conditional settlement in the United States. actions — on the burden of proof, on the type of cases that will One exception to the pattern of speedier judicial action in the be allowed and also on their jurisdiction,” she says. U.S. is Quebec, says Cassels Brock lawyer Tim Pinos who, with Canada, by contrast, “is going in the opposite direction at fellow partner Glenn Zakaib, served as counsel to Toyota in every level,” she adds. The U.S., which introduced legislation on Petit guide des recours collectifs Les tendances en matière de recours collectifs transfrontaliers changent la donne pour les conseillers juridiques d’entreprise. n août 2013, le règlement envisagé d’un « C’était vraiment transfrontalier, en ce par des plaignants au Canada et aux États- Erecours collectif relatif à l’un des plus que le groupe de plaignants a travaillé avec Unis, ce qui déclenche des disputes occa- importants rappels automobiles de l’histoire le groupe américain et la défense canadi- sionnelles pour savoir quelle firme dirigera a mis en relief une coopération étroite enne a travaillé avec l’américaine », précise le dossier. Dans certains cas, ces recours entre les avocats d’ici et des États-Unis. Won Kim, associé directeur de Kim Orr, peuvent être autorisés au Canada, mais pas Trois firmes canadiennes qui représen- l’une des trois firmes canadiennes qui ont aux États-Unis. tent les demandeurs ont travaillé avec leurs initié le recours. « Il y avait un échange d’in- « La marche à suivre devient infiniment homologues américaines pour obtenir formations fluide entre toutes les parties. » plus complexe en raison de la coordination un règlement couvrant 1,3 million de La coopération accrue entre des collec- et la sophistication des plaignants des deux véhicules. Le recours collectif visait des tivités d’un pays à un autre est l’une des côtés de la frontière, et aussi en raison allégations contre Toyota Canada et de tendances qui transforme — et complique de l’environnement règlementaire accru soudaines accélérations des véhicules. Un — le paysage des recours collectifs pour dans lequel toutes les entreprises évoluent dossier similaire avait été réglé plus tôt aux les conseillers juridiques d’entreprise. actuellement », indique Christopher États-Unis. Par exemple, des recours sont intentés Naudie, associé chez Osler, Hoskin & 24 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association WINTER 2013