A class action allows one or more persons to start a legal claim on behalf of a group or class of persons with similar claims. It effectively alters the balance of power in a legal dispute by providing an effective and economical way for claims to be made against powerful entities on behalf of groups of people with similar claims. For example, a class may be made up of employees, pensioners, shareholders, purchasers of a product, consumers or residents of a town or city. A single person or small group of persons can start a class action on behalf of hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who have been similarly affected. Class actions can be pursued with little risk or cost to the class members, as legal fees are usually paid on a contingency basis.
Koskie Glavin Gordon recently represented temporary foreign workers in bringing claims against Denny’s restaurants, which was successfully certified and settled with the workers receiving the bulk of the claims made and all legal fees paid by the Defendants. Our lawyers have been involved in some of the major class actions involving claims for lost pensions and benefits and pension surplus claims and have acted for pension funds in securities fraud class actions such as Sino Forest and Nortel.
In addition, lawyers forming our affiliation have been involved in class actions involving native residential schools, environmental claims, securities and shareholder misrepresentation, product liability, consumer protection, and many other types of cases, some of which were the first of their kind in Canada. Significant recoveries for class members were achieved in many of these cases.
With its affiliation, Koskie Glavin Gordon can provide lawyers experienced in handling complex class actions and who are recognized by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as leading practitioners in the area and who are ranked in this area by Chambers Global and recognized in the Best Lawyers in Canada.