Summary
37011
Terese Hafichuk-Walkin, et al. v. BCE Inc., et al.
(Manitoba) (Civil) (By Leave)
Keywords
None.
Summary
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Civil procedure – Class actions – Abuse of process – Action commenced in Saskatchewan claiming that telecommunication providers improperly charged wireless telephone customers system access fees and misrepresented them as regulatory fees – Action in Saskatchewan was certified as class action on national opt-in basis – Similar class actions filed in other jurisdictions across Canada, including Manitoba, but later stayed as abuses of process – Whether filing of multiple class actions constitutes abuse of process.
In 2004, an action was commenced in Saskatchewan by the Merchant Law Group (the “MLG”) under The Class Actions Act, SS 2001, c. C-12.01 (the “Frey/Chatfield action”), claiming that the respondent telecommunications providers had improperly been charging their wireless phone customers “system access fees” (“SAF”) each month. It was alleged that the respondents misrepresented that the SAF were regulatory fees that they were simply collecting and remitting to the government. It was further alleged that this illegal practice went on for several years affecting customers across Canada and resulted in the respondents receiving, collectively, hundreds of millions of dollars. Similar class actions were later brought by the MLG in eight other jurisdictions across Canada, including Manitoba. In Manitoba, Schulman J. held that the filing of multiple class actions constituted an abuse of process and stayed the action there. The Manitoba Court of Appeal affirmed that decision, giving rise to this leave application.
Lower Court Rulings
Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba
CI 04-01-39951, 2014 MBQB 175
Court of Appeal of Manitoba
AI14-30-08244, 2016 MBCA 32
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