Posted yesterday at 4:00 p.m.
It would be interesting for you to take a look at the class action taken against the Canadian tobacco companies. Me, my family and the thousands of victims languish waiting for these sad lords to fulfill their responsibilities, having been found guilty.
Richard Cournoyer
The endless saga of the lawsuit against the tobacco companies is a symbol of the bankruptcy of our judicial system. A proof of the incapacity of our courts to bring to fruition the collective actions which have become giant liners, whereas they were to be an engine of access to justice.
It is still crazy to think that the 100,000 victims of tobacco have not yet received a cent, while the steps were taken in 1998. That’s almost a quarter of a century! It’s scandalous ! Several victims have long been dead.
The three giants did everything to escape their responsibilities during the trial, by multiplying the procedures and even destroying evidence. Nevertheless, they were finally ordered to pay 15 billion by the highest court in Quebec, in 2019.
Never mind, JTI-Macdonald, Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Benson & Hedges have decided to shelter themselves from their creditors. Since then, a mediation process aims to determine how the $7 billion in their coffers will be shared.
In addition to the collective action led by the Montreal firm Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, the provinces have also filed lawsuits estimated at 500 billion dollars. Even if the provinces have never obtained a judgment, they are among the creditors who each take cover on their side.
This confidential process has now been going on for three years. And the court, which has already postponed the deadline seven times, could very well do it again next March. Misery!
This distressing story forces us to reflect on the unreasonable delays of collective actions. Of course, some cases are settled in a few years. But the higher the stakes, the longer the deadlines, because lawyers want to turn every stone… especially when they are paid on a fee basis.
Result: collective actions last on average 8 to 10 years. But it is sometimes much longer, as in the case of the ice storm where the victims received their compensation 16 years after the storm.
Efforts have already been made to improve case management and shorten delays. For example, a group of about ten judges is now exclusively responsible for authorizations in order to ensure faster and more efficient processing of this preliminary stage which aims to filter out frivolous actions, but which sometimes ends up duplicating the work.
Bravo for this initiative. But we must not stop on such a good path. Judges must be given more resources in order to unclog the system. But it also requires a profound culture change to ensure that the administration of justice is more directive and prevent lawyers from stretching ad vitam aeternam deadlines.
Class actions need a shock, like the Jordan decision, which shook the penal and criminal world by imposing maximum time limits for trials.
“It is high time for the legislator to take care of it,” insists law professor Pierre-Claude Lafond. Because the congestion on the side of collective actions also lengthens the deadlines for ordinary causes.
Last summer, the Minister of Justice launched consultations which were extended until the fall at the request of certain groups. The analysis of the briefs that have been filed is still in progress. It is still too early to comment on the nature of a possible reform, indicates the office of Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, which already has many other files on its drawing board.
Hopefully he will have time to study the matter before the election next fall.