Non-Parties Ordered To Produce Documents In Product Liability Class Action

In the recent decision of Schwoob v Bayer Inc. 2018 ONSC 166, the plaintiffs brought a motion for pre-discovery production of 120 million pages of documents in the possession of the foreign U.S. and German affiliates of the defendant Canadian drug manufacturer. The underlying action had been certified as a class action and the productions being sought were previously produced by the affiliated companies in a parallel U.S. class proceeding. The two affiliates were not defendants in the Canadian class action as the plaintiffs had voluntarily discontinued the action against both companies prior to the certification motion. The requested productions were additional to the 400,000 pages already produced by the defendant Canadian drug manufacturer.