Shane Coblin and Devin Lucas successful in having court declare an attempt to certify a class action, after years of delay, an abuse of the court process.
After approximately six years of delay, the Plaintiff in this putative class action sought to significantly amend its claim to expand the class definition, add new claims of negligence claiming damages for pure economic loss resulting from dangerous defects, and to add a number of new parties. Many of the claims were duplicative of other actions commenced at the instruction of the proposed representative plaintiff, and therefore the court found the amendments to be an abuse of process. The court also went on to find that had the proposed amendments not amounted to an abuse of process, certification would have been denied because the Plaintiff had failed to show that there was any “basis in fact” to meet the requirements under sections 4(1) (b) to (e) of the Class Proceedings Act.
Reasons for Judgment: in 0790482 B.C. Ltd. v. KBK No. 11 Ventures Ltd., 2021 BCSC 1761
