B.C. Court Of Appeal Decision A Setback For Class Action Defendants

On August 18, 2017, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (Court of Appeal) released a significant decision relating to certification matters for class actions that could have wide-ranging effects on competition class actions commenced in B.C. and elsewhere.

Godfrey v. Sony Corporation (Godfrey) involved an appeal from a B.C. Supreme Court decision allowing certification of a class action on behalf of both direct and indirect purchasers of optical disc drives (ODD).

The Court of Appeal addressed four important issues:

1. Limitations Defence

The Court of Appeal reached two important conclusions regarding the scope of the limitation period under the Competition Act. It adopted the reasoning of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology v. AU Optronics Corporation (Fanshawe), finding that it is not plain and obvious that the discoverability principle, which holds that a limitation period does not begin to run until the basis of