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ARTICLE · 09 DECEMBER 2020

Canada's First Cannabis Product Liability Class Action Snuffed Out On Appeal

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Canada's first ever cannabis product liability class action has been snuffed out – at least in part.

CanadaCannabis & Hemp
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
Tegan O'Brien
Tegan O'Brien
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Canada's first ever cannabis product liability class action has been snuffed out - at least in part. As previously reported in this newsletter, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court's certification of Downton v Organigram Inc., a product liability class action against a New Brunswick based medical cannabis producer, was a historic first. Now, just over a year later, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has substantially limited the plaintiff's claims on appeal and reduced the defendant cannabis producer's potential exposure to damages considerably.

On appeal, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal held that common causation could not be established for the personal injury claims advanced in the proposed class action, and that the damages for those claims should not be certified as a common issue. The claim for unjust enrichment was also struck for being improperly pleaded. The Court left only the common issues based on breach of contract and regulatory violations intact. This will

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