Law Commission Of Ontario Issues Recommendations For Class Action Reform In Ontario

On July 17, 2019, the Law Commission of Ontario ("LCO") published its Final Report on Class Action reform, Class Actions: Objectives, Experiences and Reforms (the "Report"). The Report is the culmination of the LCO's two-year class action project, which included consideration of submissions from 32 interested stakeholders. The Report makes 47 recommendations for amendments to Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (the "Act"), some of which the LCO itself describes as "controversial". They include recommendations for significant reforms regarding managing class actions, carriage disputes, multijurisdictional issues, certification, settlement approvals, settlement distribution, fee approval, costs, behavior modification and appeals. The full text of the LCO's report and recommendations can be found here. Some key recommendations are highlighted in this blog post.