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ARTICLE · 21 APRIL 2015

Conflicting Decisions On Whether Parallel Class Actions Constitute An Abuse Of Process

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Both cases were filed by the same law firm and concerned the same allegations related to system access fees charged to owners of cellular phones.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Ashley Paterson
Ashley Paterson
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Two recent decisions of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta have come to opposite conclusions regarding whether it is an abuse of process to file the same class proceeding in multiple jurisdictions: BCE Inc v Gillis and Turner v Bell Mobility.

Both cases were filed by the same law firm and concerned the same allegations related to system access fees charged to owners of cellular phones. Proposed class actions were filed in nine jurisdictions across Canada, including Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. A class action was certified in Saskatchewan and, as a result, the defendants in Nova Scotia and Alberta sought to strike out or stay the actions in those jurisdictions on the basis that it was an abuse of process due to the ongoing action in Saskatchewan.

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