Mefloquine Lawsuit Updates

March 7, 2022 – Motion to Discontinue Decision

On January 11, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice heard the plaintiffs’ motion seeking the court’s approval to discontinue the class action proceedings in Dowe et al v The Attorney General of Canada. The Court ordered that the Dowe action be held in abeyance, or in other words be “put on hold,” until it is understood whether or not the Federal Court mass actions will proceed. As such, currently there is no set date for when the Dowe action would be discontinued.

However, all veterans who would like to pursue compensation for injuries as a result of their ordered ingestion of Mefloquine by the Canadian Armed Forces must file individual actions before the proposed class action is discontinued. The proposed Dowe class action cannot be relied upon for compensation for injuries that resulted from your required ingestion once it is discontinued.

Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP and Waddell Phillips LLP have already reached out to all individuals who previously contacted us about pursuing an individual lawsuit, and where our records indicate we have not yet received a signed contingency retainer agreement. Anyone receiving this correspondence, who would still like to join the mass action against the Canadian Government, must sign and return the updated contingency retainer agreements to us by April 13, 2022.

Copy of Order Adjourning Motion 

April 20, 2021 – The Class Action will be discontinued

The plaintiffs of the proposed class action, Dowe et al v The Attorney General of Canada, are bringing a motion seeking the court’s approval to discontinue the class action proceedings, in order to pursue their own claims against the Government of Canada in Federal Court. If the motion for discontinuance is approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, then the proposed class action will be concluded. It will not be proceeding to trial and there will be no judgment or settlement in that action, either for or against the proposed class.

It is important to know that any limitation periods that were suspended in favour of class members while the proposed class action is outstanding will start to run again from the effective date of the discontinuance. This could affect your rights if you want to bring your own claim.

Class members who want to bring a lawsuit for injuries they believe they sustained from the ordered ingestion of Mefloquine while a member of the Canadian Armed Forces are advised to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible to learn about their rights.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have already been named as a plaintiff in a Federal Court action, or if you have already signed a retainer, then this discontinuance does NOT affect you.

For more information, you can contact class counsel at:

Email: MEFLOQUINE@HSHLAWYERS.COM

Phone: 1-877-771-7006

January 14, 2021 – Federal Court Appeal denied, but claims are moving forward

Our appeal in the Federal Court regarding its jurisdiction over your claims was unfortunately denied by the Court last week because the Government has expressed a desire to assert a claim against Mefloquine’ s manufacturer, Roche. As we have always maintained, the case is not going to end because the Government was successful on this appeal. The legal team has weighed the various options and we believe that it is in everyone’s interest for claims to remain in the Federal Court. We intend to accomplish this by revising the Claim to focus only on the liability of the Federal Government and Military.  We will be filing the required documents with the Federal Court on behalf of our retained clients to accomplish this goal.  If you are a retained client, nothing further is required from you at this time.

Link to Appeal Decision.

Now that we are proceeding with filing all claims in Federal Court, we will not be taking on any further clients after May 30, 2021.

September 18, 2020 – Jurisdiction Motion:

Earlier this week, the Federal Court granted the motion of the Federal Government, and have stayed our cases in the Federal Court. We are now contemplating whether we should launch an appeal.

As many of you will recall, the legal team has always been of the view that the motion was just an attempt by the Federal Government to stall the litigation. The decision of the Federal Court does not stop the litigation. Your case is still moving forward whether it is in the Federal Court or the Superior Court of Justice.

We will provide an update as to our future course of action shortly. Nothing further is required from our clients at this time.

Decision on Jurisdiction Motion, dated September 16, 2020

July 27, 2020 – Jurisdiction Motion:

A half-day motion was originally scheduled for April 23, 2020 at the Federal Court. The issue in this motion was whether or not the case would remain in Federal Court. The Federal Government had asked for a stay of the case in Federal Court as it intends to add Hoffmann-Laroche to the litigation. However, due to COVID-19, the motion was rescheduled to May 27, 2020.

All parties appeared via video conference on May 27, 2020 and made submissions to the presiding Prothonotary.

We continue to await the decision of the Prothonotary and will provide updates as soon as the decision is released.

November 25, 2019:

Click here to read this update on Canada’s first formal response to the Plaintiffs’ claims.

August 16, 2019:

Click here to read this update from the first case conference regarding the Mefloquine Mass Tort.

September 30, 2019:

Click here to read this update on developments in the case.

October 18, 2019:

General Romeo Dallaire joins the Mass Tort