In an article published in the Lexpert Special Edition – Canada’s Leading Litigation Lawyers, Luis Sarabia shared his insights on the advantages of and barriers to establishing a nationwide class action system.

“Dealing with class actions on a province-by-province basis is expensive, inconvenient and inefficient for both Plaintiffs and Defendants alike. It would be far better to have a national approach to these types of legal proceedings,” Luis said. “Unfortunately, our Constitution arguably does not allow for the creation of a mandatory, nationwide process like the process that exists in the United States.”

“The best way to deal with this in a comprehensive and predictable manner is to have all of the provinces voluntarily enter into an agreement for the conduct of these types of proceedings,” he added. “An example of a similar effort is the emerging agreement among some provinces for the creation of a national securities regulator. The difficulty has proven to be getting all the provinces on side with a common approach. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an adequate solution in sight at this time.”