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Class Proceedings
COMMENT'Class proceedings' are governed in Ontario by the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (CPA, 1992), which is essentially an add-on to the civil litigation workhorse Rules of Civil Procedure [which topic you may want to have frequent reference to: Civil Litigation]. Federally, they are governed by R334.1-334.39 of the Federal Court Rules - which are similarly central to federal court litigation in Canada.
Class proceedings differ from 'regular' civil litigation by requirements for registration and certification, greater competition with other law firms, multiple jurisdiction involvement, unique funding arrangements, onerous notices requirements, opting-out, and onerous settlement work. As well, class proceedings are generally more procedurally complex (and often requiring significant individual case work) than typical non-class lawsuits. It is generally thought that they should not be considered by small firms.
Class proceedings are intended primarily as a means of 'access to civil justice' by large groups of atomized plaintiffs (typically consumers) who - individually - would not be financially able to advance litigation against one or several related large defendants (typically corporations) due to imbalances of bargaining (read: 'financial') power. Recently however there have been 'reverse' class proceedings, with large groups of atomized defendants (for example, internet users alleged to have breached copyright).
As stated in Canada (Attorney General) v. Jost (Fed CA, 2020) [para 23] - the Ontario and the federal (and BC too) class proceedings regimes are recognized as similar (particularly regarding certification criteria), so that a case in any of those jurisdictions has a good chance of being relevant to the others. So in this Isthatlegal Class Proceeding topic, both Ontario and Federal sub-topics are located together - eg. under the 'Costs' sub-topics you can find law (cases and statutes) bearing on both the Ontario and federal regimes.
To clarify a point of common confusion in Ontario law - RCP 12.07 ['Proceeding against Representative Defendant'] and RCP 12.08 ['Proceeding by Unincorporated Association or Trade Union'] are separate non-CPA representative proceedings. They can apply to unincorporated associations and unions, and are expressly excluded from the application of the CPA [under s.37]. They are addressed in the Civil Litigation topic at Representative Proceedings (non-CPA).
SUB-TOPICSGENERAL
APPEALS
APPLICATION, LEGAL
APPLICATION (Type of Proceeding)
'CARRIAGE' MOTIONS (RESOLVING COMPETING CLASS PROCEEDINGS)
CERTIFICATION
CERTIFICATION MOTIONS
COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDING
COMMON ISSUES
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
COSTS, FEES, DISBURSEMENTS AND HONOURARIUMS
DAMAGES
DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION
EVIDENCE
HEARING
INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
ISSUE ESTOPPEL
LIMITATIONS
LITIGATION PLAN
MOTIONS
MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL CLASS PROCEEDING
NOTICE
OPTING-OUT
ORDERS AND JUDGMENTS
PLEADINGS
PRACTICE
REGISTRATION
REGULATIONS
'REVERSE' CLASS ACTIONS
SECURITIES ACT PROCEEDINGS (Ont)
SETTLEMENT
STAYS
SUBROGATED CLAIMS
TERMINATION OF PROCEEDING
THIRD PARTY PROCEEDINGS
TRANSITION
HOME STATUTESFor website administrative purposes, all topic-related statutes (both Ontario and Federal) are 'home-located' with a single topic. The below statutes are the 'home statutes' for the Class Proceeding topic.
ONTARIO STATUTES
Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (fully split) [amended to 2021, c. 25, Sched.1]Reg 497/20: General [no amends] (fully split)
Reg 498/20: Subrogated Claims [amended to 200/22] (fully split)
FEDERAL STATUTES
Federal Courts Rules, s.334.1-334.39 (fully split) [amended to SOR/2021-246]
SIMON'S POLITICS and CLASS PROCEEDINGS
[last re-work 28 September 2025]
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