Sotos Class Actions

A number of people have complained about a Toronto-based weight-loss scheme. The company, Weight Loss Grants, promised consumers money if they lost weight. According to Global News, the scheme offered to reimburse consumers for certain weight-loss expenses if they successfully met their goal on a certain date. The company directed participants to weight-loss services offered […]

What is a class action? A class action is a legal procedure in which one person brings a lawsuit on behalf of a group of people (the class) who have similar claims. The goal is to get justice for members of the class without each of them having to spend time, money and effort individually. […]

Anyone who knows me knows I have particularly strong view about small overcharges. I wrote an LLM thesis on the topic.[efn_note]”Keep The Change?: A behavioural approach to class action antipathy where losses are trivial” (2018) [pdf].[/efn_note] Here’s my thing: assuming companies deal with thousands or millions of customers, and assuming customers aren’t going to sue […]

Flynally. After years of airline passengers paying out of pocket for airlines’ delays and mistakes, the federal government has offered a glimmer of hope: new air passenger protection regulations. The aim is to ensure that customers are treated fairly throughout their journeys, level the playing field, and foster consumer confidence in airlines, according to the […]

Canadians send over a million electronic money transfers – over $360 million – each day. But, as CBC News reports, e-transfers may not be as secure as you think. Anne Hoover discovered this the hard way. She sent more than $1,700 by e-transfer to a friend, only to find that it was lost in transit. […]

On March 28, 2019, after filing for bankruptcy, discount airline WOW Air cancelled all operations and grounded flights leaving thousands of Canadian travellers stranded across Europe and North America. Without other options, Canadian travellers who booked return flights with WOW Air had to pay out of pocket to return home with no compensation from the […]

Social media powerhouses like Facebook seem to think that they do not have to follow Canadian advertising and privacy rules, and it’s starting to bother Canadian politicians. A new Canadian law would require online ad giants to keep records of partisan ads, including the source of the advertising. Rather than comply with the law, Google […]

On May 13, 2019, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice  granted judgment in a ground-breaking class action on behalf of Ontario consumers of “gift cards” who were charged illegal fees. Sotos LLP and Goldblatt Partners LLP jointly represent Representative Plaintiff, Joyce Bernstein against Peoples Trust Company (“PTC”).  Bernstein brought the case on behalf of consumers […]

Some fishy DNA results have drawn attention to food mislabelling in Canada. According to Global News, Dr. Jen McDonald and the students in her molecular biology course at Fanshawe College used DNA sequencing to fact-check how grocery stores and restaurants labelled their fish. Their results, which McDonald revealed on Twitter (@AwesomeBiota), were shocking. The students […]

Following the deaths of over 30 children in the last 10 years, Mattel has issued a recall of its popular Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper. Unfortunately, according to Global New, the recall does not apply to a similar product that is being sold in Canada. While Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) […]