A class action is a lawsuit certified by the Court of Queen’s Bench to proceed according to the procedure set out in The Class Actions Act. A proposed representative Plaintiff will need to satisfy the following requirement for the lawsuit to be certified as a class action: the pleadings must disclose a cause of action, there must be an identifiable class, the claims of the class members must raise common issues, a class action would be preferable for the resolution of the common issues, and there is a person willing to be appointed representative plaintiff who would fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class and has produced a workable plan for advancing the proposed class action. If any one of the above requirements are not satisfied, the Court will refuse to certify the lawsuit as a class action. McKercher LLP has successfully represented defendants in proposed class actions through opposing the plaintiff’s certification application.
