A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice1
summarized the law in Canada concerning a medical device
manufacturer's duty to warn in the context of class action
litigation.
Product Liability Class Action
Typically the four steps in a products liability class action
are: (1) determining whether the product is defective or whether,
although non-defective, the product has a propensity to injure; (2)
determining what the manufacturer knew about the dangerousness of
its product; (3) given the state of the art and the extent of the
risks inherent in the product's use, determining the
reasonableness of the warning whether made directly to the consumer
or to a learned intermediary; and (4) determining individual
causation and damages. The first step, known as the general
causation step, determines whether the product is capable of
causing harm. The second step is part of determining whether the
manufacturer had a duty of care not to sell the product or to
