Public Health Inquiries and the Class Action Fall-out

• Author: Barry Glaspell
• Pages: 67-83

67

Public Health Inquiries and the Class Action Fall-out

Barry Glaspell

AbstrAct:Canada has a robust history of public inquiries into health

failures, whether specif‌ic or systemic. Inquiries play a key role in guid-

ing health care policy. Announcement of a public health inquiry almost

inevitably triggers issuance of a proposed class action. Class counsel,

often involved in the commission, seek to use the inquiry’s f‌indings

as “some basis in fact” to justify class certif‌ication. As they are neither

intended to make f‌indings of civil liability nor subject to rigorous evi-

dentiary standards, public health inquiries don’t necessarily make solid

foundations for fair and ecient class actions.

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