B.C. appeals court backs opioid class action against manufacturers

The B.C. Court of Appeal has cleared the way for a class action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers to proceed, rejecting the companies' repeated attempts to overturn the case's certification.

In a Wednesday, June 24 judgment, three judges unanimously upheld a lower court's decision to certify the class action, allowing the province to act as the representative plaintiff on behalf of all Canadian provincial, territorial, and federal governments. More than 40 companies are named in the suit.

The manufacturers had appealed the certification, but the court found they were essentially asking the judges to reweigh evidence to reach a different outcome — something appeals are not meant to do. "The justices find that this is just the type of case the class action system was designed to facilitate," according to the ruling.

B.C.'s claim, filed in 2018 by then-attorney general David Eby, alleges that manufacturers promoted opioids for conditions where they were unsuitable, such as chronic pain, and acted in a coordinated, industry-wide fashion starting in 1996.

The court criticized the manufacturers' litigation strategy, writing that the "unhelpful and disproportionate overcomplication" of what should have been straightforward undermined "the important goals of class action proceedings — judicial economy and access to justice."

Trial is scheduled to begin February 22, 2028, with 80 days set aside to hear arguments.