On March 2, 2012, a new tentative hearing date of October 17, 2012 was set in the Pro-Sys and Sun-Rype indirect purchaser price-fixing class action cases before the Supreme Court of Canada (see: Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. (docket) and Sun-Rype Products Ltd. (docket)).
In Pro-Sys, a majority of the British Columbia Court of Appeal set aside an earlier Supreme Court of British Columbia decision granting certification and dismissed the action on the basis that the representative plaintiffs, as indirect purchasers, had no cause of action maintainable in law.
In Sun-Rype, the British Columbia Court of Appeal similarly set aside an earlier Supreme Court of British Columbia decision granting certification for indirect purchaser plaintiffs, holding that they had no cause of action and remitted the application to the trial court for consideration with respect to the direct purchaser plaintiffs.
These companion decisions by the British Columbia Court of Appeal were in contrast and conflict to a third Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Option Consommateurs v. Infineon Technologies AG, which unanimously overturned a 2008 Quebec Superior Court decision denying a motion to commence indirect purchaser class action proceedings.
Based on the uncertainty of indirect purchasers’ ability to commence price-fixing class actions in Canada and the conflicting existing case law including these recent British Columbia and Quebec appellate decisions, the Supreme Court granted leave to appeal to hear these two cases on December 1, 2011 (see: Canadian Supreme Court Grants Leave in Pro-Sys/Microsoft and Sun-Rype Indirect Purchaser Competition/Antitrust Class Actions).
For more about the procedural history of these cases see the Pro-Sys and Sun-Rype docket information: Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. (docket) and Sun-Rype Products Ltd. (docket).
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