In three highly anticipated decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada has held that indirect purchasers can commence class action lawsuits in Canada. The three decisions, Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. v. Microsoft Corporation, Sun-Rype Products Ltd. v. Archer Daniels Midland Company and Infineon Technologies AG v. Option consommateurs, not only allow indirect purchasers to sue for damages for violations of the Competition Act, but also reinforce the low evidentiary burden at the certification stage of class proceedings.
The appeals in Pro-Sys and Infineon were allowed, and the class actions certified or authorized. While the analysis of the indirect purchaser cause of action was similar in Sun-Rype, Rothstein J. dismissed the appeal in that case because there was no identifiable class of indirect purchasers.
2013 SCC 57, see online: https://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13320/index.do [Pro-Sys].
2013 SCC 58, see online: https://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13319/index.do [Sun-Rype].
2013 SCC 59, see online: https://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13318/index.do [Infineon].
