“The doors to justice are open, but how do I get in?”: Experiencing access to justice as a class action member

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss how class action members experience access to justice in class actions, and how one may innovate in order to obtain a more complete and holistic access to justice in the context of class actions. For this purpose, six individuals were interviewed by the Class Actions Lab, at Université de Montréal; two of these individuals were class action members and four were class action representatives. They were asked generally about their level of involvement in the proceedings’ decision-making processes and their perception of justice and satisfaction with the overall outcome of the proceedings. The data collected illustrates the correlation between adequate representation and enhanced access to justice for class members. The article concludes by presenting ideas gathered from the interviewed class representatives and members on how to improve access to justice in class actions.