Class proceedings are often brought against multiple defendants.
Sometimes a plaintiff will move to certify a proceeding as a class
action and is only successful against certain defendants. In
Ontario, the Divisional Court recently confirmed – in
much-needed explicit terms – that in such cases, the
plaintiff will need to get leave if it wants to appeal the partial
certification order to try to include the excluded defendants or
claims.
Under s. 30(1) of Ontario's Class Proceedings Act,
1992 ("CPA"), "[a] party may appeal to the
Divisional Court from an order refusing to certify a
proceeding". Under s. 30(2), "[a] party may appeal to the
Divisional Court from an order certifying a proceeding as a class
proceeding, with leave of the Superior Court of Justice as provided
in the rules of court". That said, in Ontario, if a defendant
loses a certification motion and a class is certified, the
defendant must obtain leave to appeal the order. On the other hand,
if a
