Jean-Marc Leclerc on indirect purchaser price-fixing claims
Jean-Marc Leclerc was recently quoted by Law360 discussing the recent British Columbia Court of Appeal cases Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. v. Microsoft Corporation and Sun-Rype Products Ltd. v. Archer Daniels Midland Company. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was recently granted for both cases.
The cases dealt with class action lawsuits for alleged price-fixing conspiracies. The British Columbia Court of Appeal held that purchasers who did not purchase the artificially inflated goods directly from the conspirators did not have any claim, since the direct purchasers were entitled to recover 100% of the overcharge. The Court held that this was true even if the indirect purchasers could prove that the direct purchasers “passed on” the overcharge to them.
Jean-Marc notes in the article:
If you get a decision from the Supreme Court … which says that indirect purchasers cannot bring class actions claims, that’s going to have a huge impact on antitrust class actions in Canada going forward.