Objection, Your Honour! Can class members dispute settlement orders in class actions?

A feature unique to class actions is that class members are not always happy with settlements. Occasionally, class members object to settlements but judges approve them anyway. Is there recourse for class members when this situation arises?

Last month, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that unhappy class members have no right to appeal a settlement order and have no other recourse. In the judgment, Macaronies Hair Club and Laser Center Inc. v Bank of Montreal, 2021 ABCA 40 https://canlii.ca/t/jczm8, Home Depot of Canada Inc. and Wal-Mart Canada Corp. (two of the approximately 850,000 class members in this class action) sought standing to challenge the settlement approval order, Macaronies Hair Club and Laser Center Inc. v BofA Canada Bank, 2018 ABQB 633 https://canlii.ca/t/htqfl issued in August of 2018. At the original fairness hearing, Home Depot and Wal-Mart had argued that the settlement was unfair, unreasonable, illegal and/or otherwise not in the best interests of the class members. Specifically, they had asserted that, in their interpretation of the settlement terms, the settling defendants were released from liability for future anti-competitive behaviour. In Supplementary Reasons released in March 2019, the motion judge agreed with the plaintiffs’ interpretation of the release, Macaronies Hair Club and Laser Center Inc. v BofA Canada Bank, 2019 ABQB 181 https://canlii.ca/t/hz6gv but ruled that, because settlements are a matter of contract, they can “forgive or license continued alleged wrongdoing” as long as the release as a whole is in the best interests of class members.