Halifax Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Osgoode Hall Law School's National Symposium on Class Actions is Canada’s "premier forum for class actions debate". The Symposium "brings together leaders from both sides of the bar as well as experienced judges and academics to share and explain the strategies and tactics at play in this form of high-stakes litigation".

The conference is taking place at Osgoode Hall Law school April 29 and 30.

I am pleased to say I have been invited to speak to the conference as part of a panel discussing the top 10 class actions decisions of the past year.

I have had a chance to preview some of the papers for the conference and I have to say I am very impressed. It should be a great conference for anyone interested in this developing area of law.

I have been asked to speak at the Atlantic Province's Trial Lawyers Association conference tomorrow about certification of class actions.

The goals of class action legislation have been stated again and again in various decisions from other provinces across the country. They are:

(a) Access to justice;
(b) Judicial economy ; and,
(c) Deterrence or behaviour modification.

It is not necessary that all of these goals be present in any particular action in order for the claim to be certified as a class proceeding. However, to the extent that these goals are realized, there is a greater likelihood that the matter will be certified.

Access to Justice

Of the three goals of class actions I think the first, access to justice, is the most important.

Unfortunately claimants can't pick up a hot line and call The Justice League for help when they have a legal problem. For a variety of reasons, access to justice through the courts is something that is not available to many claimants.

That is where class actions can help level the playing field. They allow claimants who do not have the money, time, strength, courage, or resources to gain access to justice through the courts.