Arbitration
Class ActionsOur Blog
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In cross-border litigation, the choice of venue is a major strategic consideration, and forum contests can be as hotly contested as the underlying dispute. In Lochan v Binance Holdings Limited, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice restrained Binance Holdings Limited (Binance) and an affiliated entity, Nest Services Limited (Nest), from pursuing an arbitration commenced in Hong Kong against the class representatives in a certified class action in Ontario. The decision shows how a parallel foreign arbitration raised the risk of a collateral attack on prior Ontario rulings, and why an anti-suit injunction was appropriate to preserve the integrity of the Ontario proceeding.
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The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Aroma Franchise Company Inc v Aroma Espresso Bar Canada Inc has reshaped the disclosure obligations of...
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The Supreme Court of Canada has released its highly anticipated decision in Uber Technologies Inc v Heller.
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The question of whether and when arbitration clauses will preclude a class proceeding is seemingly continually litigated. In some circumstances—such as in the consumer protection context—legislatures have clarified that certain claims cannot be subject to arbitration. In other cases, however, it is up to courts to craft the appropriate rules. The recent decision of TELUS Communications Inc v Wellman shows that the question of what rules are appropriate can attract significant disagreement. In a 5-4 split decision, the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada held that valid arbitration clauses in contracts should generally be given effect and that persons with such contracts should not be included in class proceedings.
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A long-standing issue in Canadian class actions law relates to the ability of parties to contract out of class actions and instead require that any disputes be submitted to arbitration. For class counsel and class members, such clauses are anathema, representing an attempt by sophisticated organizations to thwart class actions by requiring individual claims to proceed to arbitration. For businesses, such clauses have significant value; they can result in individual cases being resolved quickly and efficiently, without the complications and attendant costs of a class action.
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Ontario’s new legislation governing international commercial arbitration, the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, came into force on March 22, 2017, replacing the International Commercial Arbitration Act previously in place.
