The Plaintiffs attempted to certify the Action as a class proceeding. The parties were in the process of conducting questioning with respect to the Certification Application, and the Plaintiffs sought an Order from the Court compelling the questioning of certain individuals alleged to have knowledge of the underlying facts of the Action by virtue of their present or previous employment with the Defendant.

The Plaintiffs sought the questioning of these individuals to elicit evidence of the inner workings and mindset of the Defendant and their interactions with the Plaintiffs. In reviewing Rule 6.8, Justice Simard noted that the Rules allowed a party to question witnesses for the purpose of obtaining a transcript for use at an application. The Court went on to state that the evidence the Plaintiffs intended to elicit was only relevant and material to the overall claims against the Defendant and did not have any relevance to the Certification Application.

Given that the evidence the Plaintiffs sought to gain was not necessary for the Application before the Court, the Plaintiffs’ request to question the individuals was denied and the Application to compel questioning was dismissed.