Dismissal For Delay Under Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992: Lamarche v Pacific Telescope Corp

In January 2022, Justice Belobaba (one of four judges on the Toronto Class Actions List) dismissed an action for delay under section 29.1 of Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992. Justice Belobaba's decision in Bourque v Insight Productions was the first published decision interpreting section 29.1 of the Act after that provision was added to the statute in October 2020. It suggested that courts would strictly apply section 29.1 of the Act. We discussed Justice Belobaba's decision and its implications in an earlier insight, Dismissal for Delay Under the Ontario Class Proceedings Act: The First Application of a New Rule.

On April 26, 2022, the second published decision interpreting section 29.1 of the Act was released. In Lamarche v Pacific Telescope Corp, a case involving alleged price-fixing of telescopes, Justice Gomery considered—and ultimately rejected—several new arguments against the strict application of the dismissal for delay provision, including that: