On September 22, 2025, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a February 2023 decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to dismiss the certification of a class action alleging negligence by the defendants in failing to prevent abuses of hockey players by other perpetrators.
Bennett Jones acts for the defendants—the major junior hockey leagues and the owners of the 60 teams.
In dismissing the appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the proposed class action was "of an unprecedented scale and complexity, far greater than that of other systemic negligence class actions previously recognized". The Court of Appeal identified that the claim engaged 78 defendants spread across 13 jurisdictions with highly diverse allegations of abuses spanning a 50-year period. In this context, the Court of Appeal concluded that the motion judge reasonably determined the individual litigation was preferable to a class action. The Court of Appeal determined that, while representative plaintiffs have the right to "frame their case as systemic negligence to meet the common issues requirement, that right does not preclude courts from considering the additional complexity it creates when assessing preferability".
The Bennett Jones team was led by Michael Eizenga and included Gannon Beaulne, Ethan Schiff and Marshall Torgov (Class Action Litigation).