L’oratoire Saint-joseph Du Mont-royal v Jj and the Growing Complexity of Quebec’s Authorization Criteria

• Author: Shaun E Finn
• Pages: 85-114

85

L’Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal v JJ and the

Growing Complexity of Quebec’s Authorization

Criteria

Shaun E Finn

: In this case comment, the author analyses L’Oratoire Saint-

Joseph du Mont-Royal v JJ, a decision in which a majority of the Supreme

Court of Canada upheld the authorization of a class action against two

religious institutions in the context of alleged sexual abuse. Among other

things, the decision highlights discrepancies between various justices as

to how the criteria for authorization contained in the Quebec Code of

Civil Procedure1 should be conceived and applied. Rather than clarifying

the state of the law when it comes to authorization, it is arguable that the

decision — which contains vigorous dissenting opinions by the Court’s

civilian members — complicates matters further for lower court judges,

practitioners, and litigants alike. The common law majority’s expansive

approach to assessing the arguable case criterion of article 575(2) CCP

also runs the risk of giving the green light to class actions that are def‌i-

cient on their very face, contrary to the interests of proportionality.

1 CQLR c C-25.01 [CCP].

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CCAR 15-2.indb 86 3/2/2020 3:50:29 PM