Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• The application concerns approval of class counsel's fees and disbursements, administration costs, and distribution of a class action settlement fund arising from allegations of emissions-testing fraud.
   
• Quebec's fee-approval framework under article 593 C.p.c. required the Court to independently assess the reasonableness of a 25% contingency fee agreement rather than simply ratify it.
   
• Central evidentiary issues included the outcome actually achieved for group members, the litigation risk assumed by counsel, and the correlation between fees and the real benefit received.
   
• A high claims rate of 71% among Quebec truck owners informed the Court's assessment of whether the settlement served its intended remedial and deterrent purposes.
   
• Administration costs, accrued interest, and associated tax liabilities required the establishment of a reserve before final distribution could proceed.
   
• Cross-jurisdictional coordination required the Court to weigh the British Columbia court's parallel approval of comparable fees drawn from the same settlement fund.
   

Facts of the case

On November 1, 2023, Transport TFI 2, L.P. filed an application for authorization to institute a class action against Hino Motors, Ltd. and Hino Motors Canada, Ltd., alleging that the companies had misrepresented the emissions levels of trucks equipped with Hino diesel engines by fraudulently manipulating compliance tests. A similar national class action, Dayne Ziegler v. Hino Motors, Ltd. et al., was underway in British Columbia, and Hino was also defending a related U.S. class action, Express Freight International et al. v. Hino Motors Ltd et al., which had already settled. Following a mediation on July 24 and 25, 2024 before Layn R. Phillips, a former U.S. district judge who had presided over the American settlement, the parties reached an agreement in principle resolving both Canadian actions. The settlement created two groups — a Quebec Group and a British Columbia Group — covering 22,666 trucks nationally, of which 5,990 were initially sold in Quebec. The Court approved the settlement and a distribution protocol on June 2, 2025, appointing Ricepoint Administration Inc. (doing business as Verita Global) as Claims Administrator; the British Columbia Supreme Court issued a similar approval on September 11, 2025. By the time of this judgment, the claims period had closed, allowing the Court to assess the actual claims rate and rule on the final approval of fees, administration costs, and distribution.

Policy and legislative provisions at issue

The Court's analysis centred on article 593 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which imposes a duty on the court to ensure that class counsel's fees are fair, reasonable, and proportional to the services rendered, and permits the court to fix the fees itself if the amount requested is unreasonable. The Court noted that while a fee agreement between the representative plaintiff and counsel benefits from a presumption of validity, it does not bind the court, whose role is to act as guardian of the interests of absent group members who never consented to the agreement. The Court also drew on the non-exhaustive factors set out in sections 101 and 102 of the Code of Ethics of Advocates, and referenced the Class Actions Assistance Fund's statutory right to be heard on fee applications under the Act respecting the Class Action Assistance Fund. The fee agreement itself fixed class counsel's fees at 25% of any sum collected for the benefit of Group members.

Reasoning and analysis

The Court organized its analysis around two principal criteria: the outcome achieved and the risk assumed by counsel, supplemented by secondary factors such as counsel's experience and the time devoted to the file. On outcome, the Court found that the $55,000,000 settlement, together with the extended warranty and new parts warranty, conferred real and direct benefits on group members, and that the class action had served both its remedial and deterrent purposes. The Court gave particular weight to the fact that fee approval was sought only after the claims deadline had passed, allowing it to confirm a 71% claims rate for the Quebec Group — a result attributed to counsel's efforts to obtain SAAQ data, cooperation from Hino's lawyers in facilitating database access, clear communication with the group, and a pre-filled claims form prepared by the Claims Administrator. On risk, the Court accepted that counsel had assumed real financial risk in a factually complex case spanning multiple regulatory changes, without any financial assistance from the Class Actions Assistance Fund. The Court also noted that the time value of the work, estimated at approximately $1,000,000, supported a multiplier of roughly 3, and that no objections had been raised by group members or the Fund. As a point of comparison, the Court noted that fees representing 21.5% of the settlement amount applicable to the British Columbia Group had already been approved by the B.C. court. The Court further reviewed the Claims Administrator's costs, finding that $406,736.81 had been incurred to date, with $185,604.90 unpaid, and that an additional $51,396.51 would be needed to complete the administration. Interest earned on the settlement fund since June 30, 2025 totalled $1,095,618.97 as of June 1, 2026, requiring a reserve to cover the associated 2026 tax liability alongside the outstanding administration costs, for a total reserve of $310,266.61.

Ruling and overall outcome

The Court found in favour of the Plaintiff, Transport TFI 2, L.P., and its counsel, approving the requested fees and costs as reasonable and authorizing distribution of the settlement fund. The Court approved and set Class Counsel's fees and disbursements at $3,137,991.57, plus applicable taxes (equivalent, with taxes included, to fees of $3,334,179.96 and disbursements of $72,653.87). The Court also approved administration costs up to $458,133.06, plus applicable taxes, and authorized immediate payment of $185,604.90, including applicable taxes, representing the accrued and unpaid portion of those costs as of February 28, 2026. The Court authorized establishment of a $310,266.61 reserve for anticipated administration costs and 2026 tax liability on interest income, and authorized distribution of the remaining funds — calculated in the judgment at approximately $41,974,933.11 — to the 16,136 group members with valid claims, representing a minimum payment of $2,600 per truck. The judgment was issued without costs.