Current Class Action Lawsuits

Click on the links below for information on the class action lawsuits where Murphy Battista LLP is counsel or co-counsel.

British Columbia Class Action Lawyers

We are plaintiff’s class action lawyers. That means we represent people who have suffered losses or injuries arising from a wide variety of situations, including:

  • Physical or sexual harassment, assault, misconduct or abuse
  • Failings on the part of federal, provincial or municipal governments
  • Negligence or wrongdoing on the part of institutions, organizations or associations
  • Manufacture and sale of defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals
  • Pensions, retirement benefits and insurance benefit matters
  • Privacy breaches

One way we can help you is through class action litigation.

Class Action Lawsuits – Justice and Accountability

Class actions are a specific type of litigation that allow for combining multiple, similar court actions into a single action brought against a common defendant or set of defendants. These actions can be brought against Canadian entities or multinational corporations with global operations, governments or other institutional actors.

There are many situations in which a class action may arise. For example:

  • Faulty medical devices that cause injury or death;
  • Defective products;
  • Defective seat belts, air bags, or car parts that result in injuries to vehicle occupants;
  • Faulty bike components that contribute to accidents causing injury;
  • Improper billing by companies;
  • Mistakes in calculations related to pensions, benefits or insurance;
  • Privacy breaches by commercial or governmental actors;
  • Pharmaceuticals that harm instead of help; and
  • Systemic and systematic abuse and bullying within large organizations.

There are many ways in which wrongdoing can lead to injuries or death. For example, a product’s design may be faulty, a product may not have been tested properly, or end-users may not be fully and properly warned about a product’s risks.

Besides financial compensation, a class action lawsuit helps ensure that a defendant is accountable to the individuals who have suffered harm. It can also prompt changes that are necessary to prevent ongoing wrongs and losses in the future.

Do you think you have a case? Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Murphy Battista LLP – Our Experience Makes a Difference

At Murphy Battista LLP, our legal team has extensive expertise taking complex and large-scale litigation matters to court in pursuit of justice for our clients.

We have helped clients in British Columbia and throughout Canada. We offer seasoned litigators who excel in trial preparation, advocacy and achieving results for individuals who might otherwise have no access to justice.

We have many years of experience representing plaintiffs in cases involving insurance, general negligence, a wide range of personal injuries, and medical malpractice. The expertise we have built up means that we are highly skilled at identifying, analyzing, and presenting evidence of how a wrong or loss has impacted our clients’ lives. This also helps us quantify losses and negotiate appropriate settlements or prove those losses at trial, if court is the best option to attain a good result for the people we represent.

Murphy Battista has also built a significant network of experts who can assist at all stages throughout the litigation process. Years of successful trial experience in a diverse range of cases mean that you can be confident that we can engage the right experts to support your case. We also have the advocacy skills needed to present expert evidence in an understandable way to you and the court.

Class Counsel in National and Precedent-setting Cases

Our lawyers have been lead counsel in precedent-setting cases that have brought justice to the victims of wrongs by government authorities, organizations and larger corporations. Our trial results demonstrate our ability in court, and our success benefits all of our clients because it means opposing counsel take us seriously.

Large-scale class proceedings where lawyers at Murphy Battista have been class counsel include:

  • Tiller v Her Majesty the Queen, 2020 FC 321
  • Hardy v Canada, 2020 FC 73
  • Riddle v Canada, 2018 FC 641
  • Merlo v Her Majesty the Queen, 2017 FC 533
  • Manuge v Her Majesty the Queen, 2014 FC 640
  • Boute/White v Her Majesty the Queen, 2014 FC 773

Class Actions and Access to Justice

At Murphy Battista LLP, we view class action lawsuits as an effective tool for achieving access to justice for our clients. The large size and sophistication of multinational, institutional, or governmental defendants often makes class action litigation an injured or wronged person’s only financially feasible option for seeking compensation and holding a defendant accountable for wrongdoing.

Due to the complexity and cost of getting evidence to prove wrongdoing by defendants, and the need to explain all of this to a court, it can be more cost-effective to have issues common to class members decided in one lawsuit instead of requiring multiple individuals to bring separate lawsuits. Class actions are a better use of limited judicial resources while making the courts accessible to people who may not be able to afford a lawsuit on their own. Also, there is strength in numbers; if there are enough people affected by the same wrongdoing, you have a better chance of obtaining compensation if you participate as part of a class of plaintiffs

Frequently Asked Questions About Class Actions

What is a class action?

A class action is a type of lawsuit where a group of people who have been subjected to the same, or similar, legal wrongs are represented collectively by one or more members of the class, who acts as the voice for the group as a whole and who instructs the lawyers for the action on behalf of the whole class.

A proposed class action is not a class proceeding until the court determines that it has met the requisite legislative test and certifies the action as a class proceeding.

Class actions have three main goals: access to justice, behaviour modification, and judicial economy. A class action makes the legal process simpler and more manageable for each class member seeking to make a claim. It often does not make economic sense for each person in an affected class to sue the defendant individually, because the money being sought is less than the legal costs it would take to prosecute the lawsuit. A class action functions as an affordable procedural vehicle for the victims of mass wrongs.

How does a class action work?

A “class action” is a claim filed by an individual who proposes to represent all other similarly affected individuals (the “class”). The individual claimant asks the court to appoint them as the representative of the class in pursuing their claim and the members of the class benefit from the claim pursued by the representative plaintiff. In other words, if the representative plaintiff succeeds, the members of the class succeed. A representative plaintiff, and their lawyers, must be certified by the court as the “representative plaintiff’ and “class counsel.” Once appointed, the members of the class receive notice, as approved by the court, of certification of the class claim.

What do I need to do to take part in the action?

If you are a member of the class, you don’t need to do anything to be included in the action. All class members have the right to participate in the class proceeding.

How much will it cost me to participate in a class action?

There are generally no upfront costs for participating in a class action. We work on a “contingency fee” basis, which means we only receive a fee if the matter settles or we obtain a favorable judgment by a judge or jury. As an added protection to class members, a lawyer’s contingency fee agreement in class actions must receive court approval to confirm the agreement is fair and reasonable.

Resources

If you are looking for information on a specific class action, you may find the Canadian Bar Association’s National Class Action Database helpful.

Contact

If you believe you qualify to participate in an existing class action or you want to discuss a proposed class action, please call our Vancouver office at 604-683-9621, and Reception will transfer your call to someone who can help.

Alternatively you may visit our Contact page for further options or review the list of active class actions where Murphy Battista is counsel or co-counsel that you will find at the top of this page.