Page: 82
BCCA 151 other than in relation to certification of punitive damages), the Court addressed
similar concerns as follows at paras 167-171:
167. Finally, the defendants say that the plaintiffs’ proposed
litigation plan is “rudimentary, vague and formulistic”, and
provides no insight into how the plaintiffs anticipate the common
and individual issues will actually be resolved. The defendants take
particular issue with the lack of detail as to how individual issues
of causation and damages will be determined after a common
issues trial.
168. The plaintiffs’ litigation plan is relatively minimalist. It
includes provision for notice to the class, examinations for
discovery, document production, the exchange of expert reports,
and the conduct of a common issues trial. The defendants are
correct that there is limited detail regarding the individual trials
that may follow the common issues trial. The litigation plan
appears to depend on the exercise of the court’s case management
powers under the CPA.
169. The purpose of a litigation plan is to provide a framework
for the class proceeding that shows that the representative and class
counsel understand the complexities of the case. It is not intended
to resolve all procedural issues before certification has occurred. It
can be anticipated that litigation plans will require amendment as
the case proceeds: Jiang v. Vancouver City Savings Credit Union,
2019 BCCA 149 at paras. 57—61 [Jiang 2019].
170. As observed by the Court of Appeal at para. 61 of Jiang
2019, ss. 12, 27 and 28 of the CPA provide post-certification tools
to address how individual issues will be resolved. The adequacy of
a litigation plan may be viewed through the lens of the case-
management tools available to the court post-certification.
171. In my view, the plaintiffs’ proposed litigation plan is
sufficient at this stage of the proceeding to satisfy the requirement
in s. 4(1)(e)(ii) of the CPA.
[200] Similarly, the Plaintiff’s litigation plan in the case at hand addresses the principal steps
that will be involved in progressing the litigation, including in some respects the method of
providing notice to the Class, and relies significantly on the Court’s case management to develop