The Supreme Court of Canada has cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) and British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) in Canadian provincial courts related to the alleged international cargo cartel in place between 2000 and 2006, CTV has reported.
The Court refused to hear an appeal and thus validated the 2017 ruling of the Ontario Court of Appeal. The verdict said that courts in Canada can hear class-action lawsuits brought by both Canadian and international plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs in the case dating back to 2008 are Canada's Airia Brands Inc., Britain's StarTech.com Ltd., and Germany's Quick Cargo Service.
The case relates to the same alleged air cargo cartel for which the European Commission fined eleven airlines EUR779.5 million euros (USD886.4 million) in 2010. Air Canada itself was fined EUR21 million euros (USD23.9 million), while British Airways received a EUR104 million euro (USD118.3 million) penalty. The carriers are currently appealing the fines at the European Court of Justice.
In 2012, Air Canada settled a US class action lawsuit related to the same case for CAD8 million Canadian dollars (USD6.1 million) without admitting guilt.
Linda Visser, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case which reached the Supreme Court of Canada, said that except for Air Canada and British Airways, the remaining 12 defendants had already settled the case for a total of CAD29 million Canadian dollars (USD22.1 million).
