On October 1, 2020, major amendments to Ontario’s Class Proceedings Act, 1992, came into force. Class Proceedings Act, S.O. 1992, c. 6 [CPA]. Those changes—the first in over 25 years—apply to new class actions, but they may also be applied to current class actions under the Ontario court’s plenary jurisdiction to manage class actions. Karasik v. Yahoo! Inc., 2020 ONSC 5103 (Can.).
U.S. class action lawyers are used to dealing with Canadian class actions. Parallel class actions in Canada often follow U.S. ones, especially in areas like antitrust and securities. But, more generally, if your clients operate in Canada, they may have Canadian class actions exposure. So, below are the top 10 things that you and your clients need to know about Ontario’s revamped class proceedings landscape.