On September 20, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) issued a landmark antitrust class action decision in Pioneer Corp. v Godfrey which clarified several procedural questions relating to class actions.

Notably, the Godfrey decision addressed the following three important points:

- Loss as a common issue. For a class action to succeed, there must be a showing that the class members were injured, but the level or even fact of injury can vary. Godfrey considered the burden to make this showing.

- Application of the limitation period. The statute of limitations puts a time limit on when claims can be brought, but there is often a dispute about when the clock started ticking.