A Tale Of Two Forums: Consumer Class Actions And The CRTC In Telecommunications Cases

Given Quebec's unique civil law regime, we seldom blog about legal developments in Quebec. However, sometimes decisions of Quebec courts have broader relevance outside of Quebec; this is often the case where Quebec courts rule on federalism issues. The Quebec Court of Appeal's recent decision in Bell Canada v Aka-Trudell falls into that category. In that case, the Quebec Court of Appeal refused to dismiss a class action against Bell Canada, rejected the argument that the Quebec Superior Court had no jurisdiction and that the matter ought to have instead been considered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the "CRTC").

By way of background, the underlying proceeding was started as a proposed class action in 2010.  The claim alleged that Bell had unilaterally increased its interest rate applicable to late accounts from two to three percent per month.  The representative plaintiff claimed that this was abusive and contrary to both the