34 J U L Y 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m
S
ummer is wending its way to
Montreal, the terraces are open-
ing, the City's 375
th
anniversary
festivities are underway and our
world-famous festivals are just
around the corner. While Montre-
alers and its visitors are enjoying
our city and everything it has to
offer, here's what you may hear about recent class
action activity around town.
Is there still an authorization stage?
We like to think so.
The test to authorize class actions in Quebec has
probably never been as lenient as it currently is.
Recent decisions from the Court of Appeal of
Quebec have taken a very liberal approach towards
authorization. The dissenting opinion of Madam
Sponsored by
Class Action Conversation
in Montreal
by Vincent de l'Étoile – Partner, Langlois Lawyers LLP
Justice Bich, j.c.a., in Charles
v. Boiron Canada Inc.
1
ques-
tioning whether the author-
ization stage was still relevant
had many suggesting that this
screening mechanism was no
longer useful.
However, since Que-
bec's class action regime was
first introduced in 1977,
the authorization criteria
have remained unchanged.
Untouched by the newly
enacted Code of Civil Proced-
ure, one can sense a strong
message from the Quebec
legislature that the authoriza-
tion stage is here to stay.
The interpretation of the
authorization criteria has varied
over the last decades and the
"authorization pendulum"
may currently be swinging
towards one end of the spec-
trum. Time will tell if our
class action authorization
test is currently balanced or
prone to further jurispruden-
tial adjustments.
They say there is no "car-
riage fight" in Quebec...
Barring exceptional circum-
stances, the "first to file"
rule has long been an issue
distinguishing Quebec from
