If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It; If You’re Not Sure, Measure Again: Strengthening the Imperfect Mechanics of Class Authorization

AuthorPatrick Visintini
Pages115-125
115
If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it; if You’re Not Sure,
Measure Again: Strengthening the Imperfect
Mechanics of Class Authorization
Patrick Visintini
AbstrAct: In this short piece, the author responds (belatedly) to a judicial
call for reform to the class authorization process in Quebec. As long as
authorization continues to be required, any teeth added to the process
will only serve to reduce incentives to bring class actions and increase
upfront costs without necessarily cutting back on delays. On the other
hand, removing authorization as a compulsory step could reduce the need
for duplicative procedures and lighten the load on the judiciary without
compromising the viability of class actions as a means of redress. Most
importantly, though, legislative reforms need to be guided not only by
judicial intuition, but also by considerably more empirical analysis of the
existing regime than is currently available. How else can we adequately
predict and target their outcomes?
CCAR 15-2.indb 115 3/2/2020 3:50:30 PM

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