Refund Programs As A Defence Against Class Action Authorizations: An Update By The Québec Court Of Appeal

Recent years have seen a rise in refund programs in Québec, which are sometimes used as a strategic defence against class actions. Designed to proactively respond to grievances of the proposed class, these programs have on occasion led to the dismissal of class actions on the merits, as was the case in Apple Canada Inc. v. St-Germain (Apple).¹

However, the question of whether such programs could prevent class action authorization in the first place remained unclear. Nevertheless, such were the grounds for the Superior Court ruling in Lachaine v. Air Transat AT inc. (Lachaine), which was recently overturned by the Québec Court of Appeal in a significant development in this area.² The appellate decision clarifies the conditions under which a refund program may or may not thwart a class action at the authorization stage.