No Easy Way Out: Motions For Consent Certifications

In Mancinelli v Royal Bank of Canada, a group of trustees, on behalf of the Labourers' Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, along with an individual plaintiff, reached a settlement with certain Defendants who had been sued in their proposed class action and sought consent certifications for settlement purposes.  

The settlements stem from a proposed class action commenced by the Plaintiffs whereby they had sued 16 groups of financial institutions for allegedly conspiring with each other to fix prices in the futures exchange market ("FX Market").  It is alleged that through the use of multiple chat rooms with names such as "The Cartel," "The Bandits' Club," and "The Mafia," the Defendants communicated directly with each other to coordinate their: (i) fixing of spot prices; (ii) control and manipulation of FX benchmark rates; and (iii) exchange of key confidential customer information to trigger client stop loss orders and limit orders.  The Plaintiffs allege