Date Closed

April 29, 2011

Lead Office

Toronto

On April 29, 2011 a settlement was reached  in a personal injury class action commenced against Johnson & Johnson, as well as two of its operating subsidiaries, LifeScan Inc. and LifeScan Canada Inc., i The causes of action comprise allegations of negligence, conspiracy and breach of certain statutory regimes in relation to alleged product defects in SureStep blood glucose monitors sold in Canada. In July 2004, the action was certified as a class action. The motions judge refused to certify the action on any of the listed causes of action, but instead certified it on a novel cause of action called "waiver of tort" that was not pleaded in the Statement of Claim. This waiver does not require the plaintiffs to prove actual losses in order to recover. The motions judge noted in his Reasons that “the introduction of waiver of tort principles — for which proprietary, as well as personal, remedies may be available — into cases of products liability may have serious and, possibly, far-reaching implications…" Johnson & Johnson unsuccessfully appealed the certification decision to the Ontario Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada but was denied.

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP represented Johnson & Johnson with a team that was led by Darryl Ferguson and Caroline Zayid.