Overview
Class action lawsuits are complex, often multijurisdictional cases that can create legal and liability concerns, financial exposure, and business risk for defendants over a lengthy period of time. Miller Thomson’s class actions lawyers have the depth of expertise and experience to guide you through and vigorously defend your case. Our team will help you reach a superior resolution efficiently, either at trial or by way of settlement.
When your company is named in class action litigation, there is no time to waste. Our lawyers will take prompt and strategic action throughout, beginning at the pre-certification stage, where we have had great success in defeating or settling class actions well before trial. Our crisis and reputation management expertise will help to protect your business throughout the process.
Our 10 offices across Canada take a nationally integrated and collaborative approach to defending multijurisdictional or national class actions. Our lawyers have an in-depth understanding of precedents across Canada and the United States, coupled with decades of collective first-hand experience in both common law and civil law jurisdictions.
Our team has successfully represented a wide range of defendants before the Supreme Court of Canada and at all levels of provincial and federal courts, including from the construction, airline, energy, pharmaceutical, digital currency, oil and gas, banking, securities and electronics industries. We also represent government entities and non-profits in class action proceedings.
Miller Thomson’s strong presence in many of Canada’s leading industries gives us the breadth of expertise and experience to defend class actions in all substantive areas of law, including:
- Competition / Antitrust
- Consumer products
- Consumer protection
- Employers /Employees
- Environmental
- Financial products and services
- Franchises
- Mass torts
- Medical products and services
- Privacy and data breaches
- Product liability
- Securities
- Telecommunications
Our well-coordinated and dedicated team will take care of your needs throughout this process. Furthermore, our efficient Legal Project Management (LPM) system will ensure that your case is well organized and properly resourced, communications are regular and timely, and the budget is transparent.
Notable matters
One strength of our national class action team is our ability to defend claims across all substantive areas. Throughout their distinguished careers, our lawyers have been involved in a vast array of class action mandates, some of which are mentioned below:
- Represented Schering Plough Inc. in the successful defence of class proceedings alleging misrepresentations with respect to the leading sun protection product, Coppertone.
- Represented the Pepsi-Cola Company in the successful defence of an action by the Consumers’ Association of Canada claiming damages of hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Represented Honeywell Limited in a multiparty class action, alleging product liability and environmental liability claims against various defendants for allowing Electromagnetic Frequency radiation (EMF radiation) to affect the health and safety of the proposed class.
- Represented the Government of Ontario in the defence of highly publicized class proceedings arising out of the widespread contamination of the water supply in Walkerton, Ontario that resulted in seven deaths and illness to thousands of inhabitants of the Walkerton area.
- Represented Degussa AG, a leading chemical manufacturer and its affiliates, in the defence of cross-Canada class proceedings based upon allegations of a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy in the sale of vitamins for use in animal feed. This resulted in the largest settlement of its kind in Canadian class action history.
- Representing the Japanese Trustee in Bankruptcy of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, the largest bitcoin exchange in the world, successfully obtaining a Canadian recognition order which stayed class action and other litigation.
- Represented the directors and officers of bankrupt manufacturing company Protective Products of America, Inc., defending a securities class action brought for alleged misrepresentations in the secondary market.
- Represented one of the co-defendants in a proposed class action over alleged toxic mould in the Newmarket Courthouse; the defendants were successful in having certification denied.
- Represented the General Electric Company in the defence of multiparty class proceedings, which culminated in a comprehensive settlement, a feature of which was the issuance of the first Bar Order in the history of class actions in Canada.
- Represented Sandoz Canada Incorporated in a proposed class action alleging negligent design and failure to warn with respect to transdermal fentanyl patches. On behalf of Sandoz we successfully brought a pre-certification summary trial motion for dismissal of the action.
- Represented Weyerhaeuser Company Limited in successfully defending a class action brought by former, non-union, salaried employees of Weyerhaeuser alleging breach of contract in relation to retirement health benefits. On behalf of Weyerhaeuser, we successfully brought a pre-certification summary trial for dismissal of the claim.
- Represented pharmaceutical company Leon Farma in defending and settling a national class action.
- Represented two retail and wholesale petroleum companies in defending and settling class actions in Quebec alleging price-fixing of gas at the pump.
- Represented an investment dealer in a significant number of class actions in both Canada and the US which involved retaining US counsel in many jurisdictions. One major piece of litigation, the Asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) case, led to what remains the largest, and by far the most complex, restructuring in Canada’s history.
- Represented the CIT Group / Equipment Financing Inc. in the Lac Mégantic derailment class action, and parallel CCAA proceedings, in conjunction with lawyers for parallel US proceedings, in one of the most complex multijurisdictional class action/CCAA proceedings and settlements of its kind in Canada at the time.
- Represented BSH Household Appliances Ltd and BSH Home Appliances Corporation in a national product liability class action.
- Represented two of Canada’s largest supermarket and pharmacy chains in the successful defence of a class action alleging discrimination based on pricing of female hygiene products as compared to similar male products.
