Volkswagen Litigation Highlights Significant Procedural Issues For Defendants Faced With Multiple Overlapping Class Actions

In the wake of media coverage surrounding the emissions results for certain of Volkswagen's diesel engines, which reports have spawned numerous court and regulatory proceedings in multiple jurisdictions, more than 10 different class actions have recently been commenced in Canada (including 4 in Ontario). At least 6 of these putative class actions propose a national class, and at least two of them propose a global class.

Today, the filing of a multiplicity of class actions following high profile media coverage of a product liability or consumer protection story is a virtual certainty. This reality raises the question of what a defendant should do when faced with multiple class actions in multiple jurisdictions, while simultaneously attempting to manage the corresponding reputational and financial risks. This post focuses on two significant procedural issues that often arise where a multiplicity of overlapping class actions have been commenced: jurisdictional issues,