Similarity Between Cross-Jurisdictional Class Actions Is Not Enough To Justify Staying One Action Pre-Certification

In InvestorCOM Inc. v. L'Anton, 2025 BCCA 40, the BC Court of Appeal upheld the chambers judge's decision not to strike the plaintiff's claim because of a parallel action in Ontario that also sought certification as a national class action.

The Ontario and the BC actions both alleged a data breach in February 2023, involving the appellants' customers' data. The BC action was filed just over two months after the Ontario action, advancing a wider scope of claims and naming an additional defendant.

The appellants had alleged that the BC action amounted to an abuse of process, but the Court held that, given the nature of the tort and class action legislation in BC, and the representative plaintiff's residence in BC, there were legitimate reasons for the plaintiff to pursue relief in BC rather than in Ontario. The Court recognized higher cost risks in Ontario than in BC. In addition, the Court recognized that the approach to data breaches in Canada may vary between