RBC Insurance Class Action (March 2025 Update)

Below is an update regarding the progress being made in the lawsuit against RBC Insurance and RBC Bank.

In November lawyers for the plaintiff met with a case management judge to determine scheduling for proceedings. The first scheduled hearing was on February 13, 2025.

Here is what was passed on to us from the plaintiff’s lawyer after the hearing:

“We are moving ahead in the class action against RBC and our claim that they failed to disclose the fees they were charging. We now have a schedule that will take us to court to decide the next major step in the litigation. The court will decide whether this case can proceed as a class action after a court hearing which is in the process of being scheduled for May 11, 2026. Preparation is underway; we are hiring experts and drafting affidavits. We will keep you posted with any new developments.”

OVERVIEW OF PROCEEDINGS

On February 13, 2025, at a recent court appearance on the litigation concerning the undisclosed fees charged by RBC Life to the SRIA policies, counsel for the plaintiff obtained directions from Justice Ramsey of the Supreme Court of British Columbia to set down a schedule concerning how this proposed class action will proceed to its first major step in the litigation – the certification hearing.

A certification hearing is a four-day hearing in which the case management judge will be asked to certify this action as a class proceeding. In other words, until this step happens, this action remains an individual action. Certification is a large step in the litigation and is often viewed as the major hurdle to overcome for the class. Success on certification significantly increases the classes negotiation position. Often class actions will settle after certification. However, lately, there has been more of a trend towards actions proceeding towards a trial on the common issues.

That schedule that has been set sees the exchange of application materials and affidavits throughout 2025. This is a multi-round process involving many affiants and expert opinions.

Then in January 2026, once the exchange of all of the parties’ materials has happened on certification, the parties have a deadline of January 21, 2026, to deliver their respective applications that need to be heard prior to the certification hearing. These applications are often brought by either party to narrow the issues on certification.

If no applications are delivered on January 21, 2026, the written submissions will likely take place over the first quarter of 2026 leading up to a four-day hearing of the application for certification commencing the week of May 11, 2026.

This schedule is subject to the court’s availability in May 2026 and subject to no applications being delivered on January 21, 2026. If applications are delivered this may delay the certification hearing.

Plaintiff’s counsel will attempt to mediate in between the dates set out within the schedule.

We will continue to keep you informed as this litigation moves forward.

To follow further developments relating to this action visit our dedicated webpage here.