In a close, 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada recently
reinforced the primacy of arbitration agreements. The Court held
that if businesses are parties to a standard form contract
containing an arbitration provision, they cannot join a class
action relating to that contract, even with consumers against whom
the same arbitration provision cannot be enforced. In TELUS
Communications Inc. v Wellman, the Court held that
business members of a proposed class action were required to
arbitrate their disputes. They could not litigate their cases in
court as part of a class action brought on behalf of consumers.
Our previous article detailing the lower court decisions can be
viewed
here.
