Madam Justice Fitzpatrick of the B.C. Supreme Court has issued a ruling approving a settlement of the class action lawsuit brought against Denny’s Restaurants on behalf of temporary foreign workers. Under the terms of the settlement, the workers will receive reimbursement for most of the fees paid to a third party employment agency, as well as compensation in full for airfare, hourly wages and overtime as claimed in the suit. All legal fees are to be paid by Denny’s directly, and will not come out of the settlement funds.
In approving the settlement, Madam Justice Fitzpatrick wrote: “There is no dispute on this application that Class Counsel have demonstrated skill and competence in litigating this matter. … I have already concluded that the potentially full monetary recovery for the class members is a very successful result. This result was achieved because of Class Counsel’s able efforts in forcefully asserting the claims of the class members to this point in time. Those efforts and the risks they bore have allowed the class members to achieve this result when, in reality, these claims would not have otherwise been advanced at all. In that respect, these law firms are truly the means by which the “access to justice” objective identified in Hollick has been achieved.”
Case Judgement:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/13/04/2013BCSC0468.htm
In the Press:
“Lawsuits Highlight Risks of Running Afoul of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Regulations” – Business in Vancouver