Supreme Court Of Canada Clarifies Procedures For Class-Action Certification

On September 20, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) clarified several procedural questions regarding class-action certification in the case of Pioneer v. Godfrey. This ruling, which followed a trilogy of landmark decisions six years ago that allowed indirect purchasers to bring price-fixing cases under the Competition Act, confirmed the availability of a class-action procedure where the plaintiff can potentially show damage to those purchasers, even if the methodology presented at certification cannot establish that each class member suffered damage.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The SCC's decision confirms the relatively low evidentiary standard to obtain certification of a competition class action in Canada because the plaintiff and its expert do not need to establish a methodology for showing that any class members suffered loss or damage at the certification stage.