Judicial Consideration of Us Proceedings in Canadian Class Action Settlement Approvals

• Author: Barry Glaspell and Rachael Belanger
• Pages: 213-222

213

JUDICIAL CONSIDER ATION OF

US PROCEEDINGS IN CANADIAN

CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

APPROVALS

Barry Glaspell and Rachael Belanger

Abstract: In Canada, class action settlement approvals re-

quire that a court f‌ind t hat the settlement is fai r and reason-

able with respect to the settlement class as a whole. In some

instances, due to a lack of factually comparable cas es in Can-

ada, but where there is a nearly identica l proceeding in the

US, the courts wil l look to the similar US settlement to aid

in determining the fairness and reasonableness of the Can-

adian settlement. Rev iewing a selection of judici al decisions

regarding Canadian settlement approvals, this article draws

some conclusions on the use of American settlements in

Canadian approval s. Generally speaking, where the court is

satisf‌ied that Ca nadian counsel were aware of and took into

consideration the American settlement and where the Can-

adian settlement amount is rough ly in line, proportionally, to

the US settlement, a f‌inding of fa irness and reasonableness is

more likely.

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