Québec Courts Streamline Multijurisdictional Class Actions

As a result of Canada's federal system, it is common for a defendant to face multiple class proceedings filed in various provinces in respect of a public incident. These proceedings often allege identical violations and seek similar remedies against the same defendants in numerous jurisdictions, and sometimes assert overlapping classes. In the past, courts had been reluctant to stay in their own province in the face of parallel proceedings in other provinces, out of concern of delaying or prejudicing the claims of their own residents. But in a number of recent decisions in Quebec, the Quebec courts have indicated that subject to the right terms and undertakings, they may be prepared to stay a class action in Quebec that is limited to Québec residents pending the outcome of certification of a national class in another province.