Law Commission of Ontario Call for Research Papers

The Law Commission of Ontario has sent out a call for research papers on the topic of “take-up rates” in class action proceedings as a measure of access to justice. Take-up rates refer to the proportion of eligible claimants who present a claim for compensation in a class action lawsuit:

"In the context of access to justice, the CPA [Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992] was intended to mitigate the social, psychological and economic circumstances that can frustrate a person’s access to the courts for consideration of a claim. It was premised on the notion that as a class seeking redress for mass harm, there is better leverage to level the litigation playing field when prosecuting a large corporate entity. However, it can be argued that the objective of access to justice is met only if sufficient members of the class actually benefit from the damages identified in a settlement or award.

The LCO will fund research on take-up rates, which will inform the development of options for reform."

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"The objective of this Call for Research Proposals is to obtain expert input on the topic of 'take-up rates' in class proceedings as a measure of access to justice, as described in the scoping document. The resulting research will help to paint a clear picture of the extent to which class procedure has enabled meaningful access to justice in Ontario. Such research in turn will allow the LCO to make reasoned, evidence-based and practical recommendations for reform."

"Researchers are encouraged to employ relevant quantitative or qualitative research that they have already undertaken or, as long as it can be completed within the time frames set out below, to undertake original quantitative or qualitative research that will contribute to their analysis."

The scoping document referred to above is on the Law Commission website. Research proposals must be received by midnight on October 17, 2014.