On November 15, 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal issued its
Reasons for Judgment in an appeal from an order that (1) granted
the respondent's motion for security for costs for a pending
certification motion, (2) set the quantum of security at $75,000.00
and (3) awarded the respondent lump sum costs of $750.00 on the
motion. A copy of the Federal Court's Order and Reasons can be
found here.
Background
The appellants, Voltage Pictures, commenced a proposed class
proceeding against the proposed representative respondent, Mr.
Salna, and others like him who are said to have engaged in illegal
file sharing that infringed Voltage Pictures' copyright in
several movies. Voltage Pictures sought to have the proceeding
certified as a so-called "reverse" class action, where
the plaintiffs sue a class of similarly situated defendants. Before
Voltage Pictures served and filed their motion for certification
Mr. Salna brought a motion requesting that Voltage Pictures pay
security
