The Rana Plaza Class Action: Lessons for Class Action Lawyers

Ranjan Agarwal, Gannon Beaulne and Ethan Schiff co-authored "The Rana Plaza Class Action: Lessons for Class Action Lawyers" published by the Ontario Bar Association. In April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing and injuring thousands of bystanders and workers in the building’s factories. Many of these factories were contracted or subcontracted by multinational retailers. The plaintiffs, survivors or family members of deceased workers, commenced a putative class action in Ontario against Loblaws, which sold garments made in Rana Plaza, and Bureau Veritas, a multinational auditing company engaged by Loblaws to do a limited “social audit” at one of the factories where Loblaws’ goods were manufactured.