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ARTICLE · 14 JULY 2014

Restrictions To Unilateral Contractual Amendments... And To Punitive Damages

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The recent decision of the Superior Court of Quebec in the Martin v. Société Telus Communication class action puts into perspective other recent decisions from the same court regarding the award of punitive damages in consumer protection cases.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP
Sidney Elbaz
Sidney Elbaz
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Co-authored by: Christian Abouchaker, Summer Student

The recent decision of the Superior Court of Quebec in the Martin v. Société Telus Communication1 class action puts into perspective other recent decisions2 from the same court regarding the award of punitive damages in consumer protection cases.

Background

This class action, which was initiated in 2008 and authorized by the Court of Appeal in December of 2010, dealt with the unilateral amendment by the Defendant of existing cell phone contracts which sought to introduce fees for incoming text messages, which were previously free of charge. The Class Plaintiff, a customer whose contract was unilaterally amended, was seeking to recover the fees paid following the rate increase, as well as an award for moral and punitive damages. The class plaintiff alleged that the Defendant was in breach of the Quebec Consumer Protection Act (the "CPA")3 by omitting to specify a potential price increase in the initial

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