{"id":232961,"date":"2020-07-28T11:53:39","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T06:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=232961"},"modified":"2020-07-28T11:59:55","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T06:29:55","slug":"canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Supreme Court of Canada:<\/strong> Full Bench comprising Wagner,\u00a0C.J., Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, C\u00f4t\u00e9, Brown, Rowe, Martin and Kasirer, JJ. allowed an appeal against a class action lawsuit claiming disgorgement from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), a corporation which approves licenses for Video lottery terminals (VLTs).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The class action was instituted on behalf of any natural person who paid to play VLTs in the area in the six years preceding the lawsuit, which claimed that VLTs are deceptive and dangerous and contravene the <em>Criminal Code<\/em>\u2019s (1985) prohibition of games similar to \u201cthree-card monte\u201d. The plaintiffs claim that ALC breached its duty by not warning players of \u201cthe inherent dangers associated with VLTs, including the risk of addiction and suicide ideation.\u201d The claim relies on three causes of action i.e., waiver of tort, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, to seek a gain-based award quantified by the profit ALC earned by licencing VLTs. ALC\u2019s application against the claim before a certification judge failed, as did its appeal in the Court of Appeal, which allowed the plaintiff\u2019s lawsuit to proceed to trial.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court, however, held that the plaintiffs\u2019 plea is bound to fail since it does not disclose a reasonable cause of action. The bench opined that while disgorgement is a remedy against actionable misconduct, the plaintiffs seek to use it as an independent cause of action under an entirely new category of wrongful conduct, which is akin to negligence but does not require proof of damage. Denying relief on this ground, the Court asserted that \u201cgranting disgorgement for negligence without proof of damage would result in a remedy arising out of legal nothingness.\u201d As for the argument concerning the similarity of VLTs to three-card monte, the Court rejected it since the prohibition was directed at the game\u2019s attribute and not its feature of deception.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court opined that gain-based recoveries in cases of breach of contract require the consideration of the legitimate interest which such an award seeks to vindicate. Since the award sought by the plaintiffs is measured by the defendant\u2019s gain, it seeks to serve a compensatory purpose which distinguishes it from disgorgement and that makes a gain-based remedy inappropriate. Moreover, the contract between ALC and the plaintiffs under which the plaintiffs paid to play on the VLTs cannot be said to have been vitiated since a benefit derived by a defendant from a valid contract is not unjustified. The plaintiffs failed in establishing a causal connection between the alleged breach of contract and the gain to be disgorged. However, four judges on the Bench dissented by allowing the appeal in part, striking down disgorgement and unjust enrichment as causes of action, instead suggesting that the lawsuit be focused on a breach of duty of care, the adequacy of ordinary remedies resulting from it and whether exemplary damages ought to be awarded.\u00a0[Atlantic Lottery Corporation Inc. v. Babstock, 2020 SCC 19, decided on 24-07-2020]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of Canada: Full Bench comprising Wagner,\u00a0C.J., Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, C\u00f4t\u00e9, Brown, Rowe, Martin and Kasirer, JJ. allowed an appeal against <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67011,"featured_media":32072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[27704,36291,3174,5051,3065,42773],"class_list":["post-232961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-foreigncourts","tag-breach-of-contract","tag-class-action-lawsuit","tag-contract","tag-misconduct","tag-negligence","tag-video-lottery-terminals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supreme Court of Canada: Full Bench comprising Wagner,\u00a0C.J., Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, C\u00f4t\u00e9, Brown, Rowe, Martin and Kasirer, JJ. allowed an appeal against\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe\"},\"headline\":\"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"breach of contract\",\"Class Action Lawsuit\",\"contract\",\"misconduct\",\"negligence\",\"Video lottery terminals\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Case Briefs\",\"Foreign Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed | SCC Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/01\\\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg\",\"width\":1330,\"height\":887,\"caption\":\"Canada SC\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/28\\\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/author\\\/editor_4\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed | SCC Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed","og_description":"Supreme Court of Canada: Full Bench comprising Wagner,\u00a0C.J., Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, C\u00f4t\u00e9, Brown, Rowe, Martin and Kasirer, JJ. allowed an appeal against","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1330,"height":887,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe"},"headline":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed","datePublished":"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/"},"wordCount":500,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","keywords":["breach of contract","Class Action Lawsuit","contract","misconduct","negligence","Video lottery terminals"],"articleSection":["Case Briefs","Foreign Courts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/","name":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed | SCC Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-28T06:23:39+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-28T06:29:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","width":1330,"height":887,"caption":"Canada SC"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/07\/28\/canada-sc-class-action-against-video-lottery-terminals-cannot-proceed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Canada SC | Class-action against Video lottery terminals cannot proceed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/84e42bab48238baf12c7e33b3d9761fe","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34e366be721c41333586de05faa13743195f5b142dcd7a015c6fabd2389521d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_4\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/supreme_court_of_canada.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}