To Stay Or Not To Stay: The Arrival Of Parallel Canadian Securities Class Actions

Key takeaways

• The Ontario Superior Court recently refused to stay a proposed global securities class action commenced in Ontario despite a substantially similar proceeding in British Columbia.
• It is becoming increasingly difficult for defendants to consolidate or stay overlapping class proceedings — even when the claims are virtually identical.
• The ruling suggests that well-resourced defendants may face more challenges in seeking relief from duplicative litigation costs.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently declined to stay a proposed global securities class action in favour of a substantially similar proposed global securities class action filed in British Columbia. The decision is the first to interpret the provisions of the Ontario Class Proceedings Act¹ (CPA) enacted in 2020 to address duplicative class proceedings brought in different Canadian provinces. The defendants now face proposed global class actions in two provinces, with all the attendant costs,