Ontario Court Allows Punitive Damages Claim To Proceed In Environmental Class Action

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has allowed plaintiffs in an environmental contamination class action to pursue punitive damages as a certified common issue.

In Egan v. National Research Council of Canada, 2026 ONSC 1429, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the plaintiffs’ amendments to both the statement of claim to provide further particulars of their existing punitive damages claim, and the prior certification order to add punitive damages as a common issue.

Although punitive damages had already been pleaded, they were not certified at the original certification motion because the evidentiary record had been insufficient. The certification order, however, expressly permitted the plaintiffs to return if further evidence later justified certification of punitive damages as a common issue.