To remedy this injustice, a class action lawsuit has been launched by students who have paid inappropriate ancillary fees. The goal of the class action is to recover funds that were inappropriately charged, and to establish measures that will prevent future infractions.
This class action lawsuit will pool a large number of individual claims into one representational lawsuit.
The advantages of approaching a legal remedy through a class action are numerous. First, pooling claims will increase the efficiency of the legal process, and lower the overall costs of litigation.
Second, a class action ensures that Ontario colleges, which have acted individually and collectively to unjustly enrich themselves with student money, must compensate all those who were negatively affected by this practice.
Third, a class action ensures that all plaintiffs are treated equitably through a centralised process. The courts will not allow any individual plaintiff, including a representative plaintiff, to be awarded a settlement on terms that differ from anyone else in the class. Moreover, if either the plaintiffs' attorney or the court feels that a representative plaintiff is advocating for a remedy that is not in the best interests of the class, then a new representative plaintiff can be appointed.
Finally, a class action ensures a consistent result on behalf of many individual plaintiffs. This will give the colleges clearer direction for equitably compensating plaintiffs than if multiple individual plaintiffs launched unconnected lawsuits.