Successful Defendants Ordered To Bear Own Costs Of Common Issues Trial

Berry v. Pulley was the first class proceeding in Canada to proceed to trial with a defendant class. As previously described here², the action arose out the acquisition of Air Ontario by Air Canada and a dispute between the pilots of these two airlines about the preparation of an integrated seniority list. Ultimately, the defendants were successful and the action was dismissed.

In Berry v Pulley et al, 2013 CanLII 54779³, Justice Pepall ruled on the costs to be awarded for the trial. The trial had taken place over the course of several months. During the trial there were more than 43 volumes of documents, evidence was read-in from about 30 transcripts, and testimony was heard from approximately 20 witnesses.