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Class Proceeding (Fed) - 'Reverse' . Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Salna
In Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Salna (Fed CA, 2025) the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal, here from the dismissal "(for the second time) [of] the appellants’ motion to certify this proposed reverse class proceeding":[2] Reverse class actions are specifically provided for in three Canadian jurisdictions: see Federal Courts Rules, S.O.R./98-106, Rules 334.14(2), (3); Class Proceedings Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 6, s. 4; Class Proceedings Act, S.N.S. 2007, c. 28, s. 5(2). And, in those jurisdictions, relatively few reverse class proceedings have been commenced. In the reverse class proceedings where certification has been granted, there were much smaller defendant or respondent classes than that initially proposed in this case: see e.g. Chippewas of Sarnia Band v. Canada (Attorney General) (1996), 137 D.L.R. (4th) 239, 1996 CanLII 8015 (Ont. Ct. (Gen. Div.)); Berry v. Pulley (2001), 197 D.L.R. (4th) 317, 2001 CanLII 28228 (Ont. Sup. Ct. J.) [Berry]; Sutherland v. Hudson’s Bay Co. (2005), 74 O.R. (3d) 608, 2005 CanLII 63803 (Sup. Ct. J.); Bernlohr v. Former Employees of Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., 2019 FC 837; Bernlohr v. Former Employees of Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., 2021 FC 113; Marcinkiewicz v. General Motors of Canada Co., 2022 ONSC 2180 [Marcinkiewicz]; Brewers Retail v. Campbell, 2022 ONSC 850, aff’d 2023 ONCA 534. . Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Salna [representation for defendants]
In Voltage Pictures, LLC v. Salna (Fed CA, 2025) the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal, here from the dismissal "(for the second time) [of] the appellants’ motion to certify this proposed reverse class proceeding".
The court considered where "the appellants needed to make adequate provision for the funding of class counsel in their litigation plan", here in the counter-intuitive situation of a reverse class proceeding where the plaintiff may have a fairness interest in seeing that the atomized defendants are representated [paras 102-117].
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