"Too Big To Certify"

In Kett v. Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, 2020 BCSC 1879, Justice Branch dismissed a certification application because the case was "too big to certify". The case confirms that there are limits to the scale of class actions-while plaintiffs may create the appearance of commonality through abstraction, certification will be inappropriate where individual analyses dominate.

The judgement is also notable for:

• limiting the use of BC's Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act (the "BPCPA") against parties in a supply chain that provide components; not finished goods in the form received by consumers;
• requiring plaintiffs' counsel to disclose any relationship between the plaintiff and the firm; and