Public Nuisance Claims: An Increasing Risk To Canadian Businesses

In the last several years, plaintiffs have pursued an increasing number of public nuisance claims against Canadian businesses—particularly in product liability class actions. Relative to more conventional negligence-based claims, public nuisance claims are attractive to plaintiffs—and perilous for defendants.

Public nuisance is a tort in Canadian common law jurisdictions. But, unlike negligence, public nuisance does not require a plaintiff to prove that a defendant (1) owed the plaintiff a duty of care or (2) breached a standard of care. Thus, when public nuisance applies, it is often easier for a plaintiff to establish liability in public nuisance than negligence—and sometimes to a larger class of affected persons.