James’s practice focuses on class proceedings. James is class counsel in various different areas of law, including product liability, Crown liability, securities misrepresentation and consumer protection claims.
A sampling of James’s recent cases include:
- Trial counsel to the class in an Indian residential school common issues trial in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Obtained a $50 million settlement after presenting the plaintiffs’ case over 4 months (Anderson v. Canada);
- Counsel to mentally ill prisoners who were subjected to solitary confinement in the Federal correctional system (Brazeau v. Canada);
- Counsel to purchasers and lessees of Volkswagen vehicles in the ‘dieselgate’ matter, leading to a historic settlement worth over $2.5 billion (Quenneville v. Volkswagen);
- Counsel to minors who were subjected to solitary confinement in the Ontario youth correctional system (JK/CS v.Ontario);
- Counsel to survivors of abuse at a boarding school for the blind; (Seed. v. Ontario); and,
- Counsel to purchasers of smartphones in an illegal scheme to breach international patent trade agreements (Absedris v. Qualcomm)
James regularly contributes to national media including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, CBC Television and Radio, among others. He speaks regularly at Advocate’s Society and Ontario Bar Association events and at various law schools on the subject of class proceedings.
James practiced class action litigation on both the plaintiff and the defence-sides at an international law firm and a prominent litigation boutique before joining Koskie Minsky in 2014.
